Law enforcement agencies detained the mother of Bakhtovar Dzhumaev

Bakhtovar Dzhumaev, a lawyer and advocate for migrant rights, has complained about pressure from Tajik law enforcement agencies on his relatives and loved ones in Tajikistan.

According to Dzhumaev, “on the morning of May 9, officers from the 6th department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Penjikent took his mother and have kept her in custody ever since.”

The human rights defender reported that officers from the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan (commonly known as the “6th department”) are compiling a list of all his relatives, and according to the police, they are detaining “parents due to the son’s actions.”

“How can one speak with such people about honor and the law? Let the people judge for themselves who among us is the extremist – us or them? How long will this lawlessness continue? Why can’t there be at least one person with a bit of honor and conscience who can hold these people back?! After all, is it normal that a son, who is over forty years old and has two higher education degrees, is held responsible for his parents or relatives, and they are subjected to insults by such people?” – Bakhtovar wrote on his Facebook page.

He also reported that Tajik law enforcement officers told his relatives that Bakhtovar should return to his homeland and ask for forgiveness, and he would be pardoned.

“For what sins should I ask for forgiveness? From whom? Is it not enough with the problems that have befallen our people, that you add even more? We are disliked and driven away everywhere, even by the Kazakhs… Don’t you ask yourselves why? Get a grip!” – the human rights defender writes.

He noted that he cannot leave Russia “for valid reasons,” but has long “bitten his tongue.”

Earlier, in 2021, the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Penjikent initiated a criminal case against Bakhtovar Dzhumaev, an employee of the Tajik Center in Moscow, under part 2 of article 307 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan (Public calls for violent change of the constitutional order of the Republic of Tajikistan using mass media or the internet).

The human rights defender categorically disagrees with the charges brought by the Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Penjikent.

Previously, Tajik civil society activists and opposition representatives have repeatedly complained that Tajik law enforcement agencies exert pressure on their relatives and loved ones in Tajikistan.

 However, the authorities have never officially commented on the reasons for pursuing the relatives of activists and opposition members.