Pro-government bloggers Idibek “Bokhtarsky” and Rustam “Lysy” detained

The law enforcement agencies of Tajikistan have detained two activists and social media bloggers, Rustam Ashurov and Abdulloh Zarifzoda. They were known in society as “pro-government” bloggers.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Dushanbe, 37-year-old Rustam Ashurov was detained by city police following an investigation into his activities on social media.

According to the investigation, during his activities as a blogger under the nickname Rustami “Kal” (“Bald”), the suspect showed actions in his videos that promoted begging and disrespect for the national currency.

The investigation characterized these videos of the blogger as “a gross violation of public order,” and an administrative protocol was drawn up against him under Article 460 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Tajikistan (petty hooliganism). The court sentenced Rustam Ashurov to administrative arrest for a period of 10 days.

At the same time, another blogger, Abdulloh Zarifzoda, better known on social media by the pseudonym Idibek “Bohtari” (“Bokhtar”), was detained in the Khatlon region. It is reported that he was also held administratively accountable.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Khatlon region reported that Idibek “Bohtari” was detained for using coarse, offensive, and humiliating language towards other social media users, including during live broadcasts.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the blogger had previously been held accountable, but despite this, he continued his activities on social media, and some of his videos violated moral and ethical norms. As a result, the court placed him under administrative arrest for a period of five days.

Earlier, in 2025, the well-known propagandist of government policy and ardent pro-government blogger Idibek Bohtari was sentenced by the court of Bokhtar to one year of imprisonment. He was found guilty of “using violence against a representative of the authorities.”

Previously, a video appeal by Idibek Bohtari appeared online, in which he tearfully complained about Tajik officials. According to Idibek, he was in danger and had to leave the country due to the actions of the mayor of Bokhtar, Abdulmajid Muminzoda, and the chairman of the Khatlon region.

In his video appeal, Idibek expressed himself in a coarse and offensive manner towards the mayor of Bokhtar, claiming that “he ordered to ‘break’ the residents of the city.” Because of this, he found himself in danger and had to leave the country. Idibek claimed in his video appeal that 70%-80% of the youth who were forced to leave the country and joined the opposition did so because of the poor treatment from such officials and are aligning with the opposition.

Blogger Idibek Bohtari became famous for growing a long beard, claiming that the accusations against the authorities of Tajikistan regarding the forced shaving of men’s beards are not true.

The blogger also gained fame for sharply criticizing representatives of the Tajik opposition and opponents of the government of Emomali Rahmon in his videos.

However, unexpectedly in 2024, he began to criticize the authorities of Bokhtar. In his video address, Idibek threatened that he possessed a large amount of information about the corruption schemes of the mayor of Bokhtar and would publish it if necessary.