The court reviewed Yurov’s appeal behind closed doors

On September 1, 2023, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan began reviewing the cassation appeal of convicted lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov. The court session is taking place in the pre-trial detention center in Dushanbe.  

Jamshed Yorov, chairman of the “Buzurgmehr” Foundation and brother of convicted lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov, told Azda TV that the hearing on Buzurgmehr Yorov’s cassation appeal is taking place in the pre-trial detention center in Dushanbe behind closed doors.

According to Jamshed Yorov, the session is held behind closed doors, so it is unknown what is happening there.

“Most likely, because the Supreme Court of Tajikistan is not an independent body, and also because Buzurgmehr Yorov’s case is biased and politically motivated, the court will reject his cassation appeal, and the decision will be made in one day,” emphasized the human rights defender.

Earlier, on July 10 of this year, the court in Vahdat found the well-known lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov guilty and added another 10 years to his prison sentence. Thus, Buzurgmehr must now spend more than 20 years behind bars.

The court found Buzurgmehr Yorov guilty of “large-scale fraud.” Yorov himself denied the authorities’ accusations at previous court hearings.

In his letter from the pre-trial detention center, Buzurgmehr Yorov wrote that the case was initiated based on a statement from a prisoner in the Vahdat colony, Hasan Hasanov. Hasanov claimed that Buzurgmehr Yorov received 42,500 somoni (over $4,000) for providing legal services but did nothing. Buzurgmehr Yorov denied receiving the money and called Hasanov’s statement “another slander.”

Relatives of Buzurgmehr Yorov called these accusations politically motivated. According to them, Yorov’s case, like the cases of all opponents of the Rahmon regime or civil society activists, was fabricated in an atmosphere of lies, secrecy, using pressure and torture against suspects, witnesses, and their relatives.

Well-known Tajik human rights defender and political prisoner Buzurgmehr Yorov was arrested on September 28, 2015, when he took on the defense of members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan in court. He was charged with various offenses, including fraud, forgery of documents, and insulting the president. The court sentenced him to 28 years in prison. The human rights defender and his supporters rejected the charges and called the court ruling politically motivated.

Western countries and several international organizations have repeatedly called on the Tajik authorities to release Buzurgmehr Yorov from prison immediately and unconditionally. However, the authorities of the country have never taken into account the demands of international organizations.