Deputy leader of SDPT faces extremism charges

A prosecutor-office in the city of Hisor has filed extremism charges against Mahmourod Odinayev, who was detained in Dushanbe on December 5 on suspicion of hooliganism.

According to SDPT leader Rahmatillo Zoyirov, new charges were filed against Mahmourod Odinayev under the provisions of Article 307 (1) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – public calls for extremist activity or public justification of extremism. 

“My repeated attempts to meet with Mahmourod Odinayev in the pretrial detention facility remain in vain.  The prosecutor’s office justifies the refusal by saying that Odinayev was detained not as of political party functionary but as ordinary citizen.  Therefore, only Odinayev’s relatives can meet with him, but not SDPT leaders,” Zoyirov said.  

Recall, Mahmourod Odinayev, 58, who had been on missing since November 20, was reportedly detained in Dushanbe on December 5.

According to the authorities, he allegedly conducted an act of hooliganism in a military draft office in Hisor in late October, where prosecutors say he confronted officials over the conscription of his son Habibullo.

The Hisor prosecutor’s office on November 20 instituted criminal proceedings against Mahmourod Odinayev under provisions of Article 237 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – hooliganism committed by a group of people by prior conspiracy, with resistance to government officials or to other persons charged with the responsibility of maintaining public order.

According to SDPT leader, Odinayev contacted him on December 4, the day before his arrest.  “He told me that he was being persecuted for dissent and he was forced to flee when law enforcement officers came for him to home,” Zoyirov said.