DEMONSTRATORS CHARGE ILLEGAL DETENTION AND VIOLATION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 002147

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN; DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TI
SUBJECT: DEMONSTRATORS CHARGE ILLEGAL DETENTION AND VIOLATION OF
RIGHTS

REF: DUSHANBE 2033

CLASSIFIED BY: Tracey Jacobson, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy
Dushanbe, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) SUMMARY: Three Democratic Party of Tajikistan members
were released November 19 after serving 15 days in prison for
organizing a demonstration. Khairiddin Gulyaev and Temur Toshev
(also known as Temur Iskandarov),two of the imprisoned members,
met with Poloff November 22 to assert their innocence and relay
the illegal nature of their detention. Both men were denied a
fair trial and insist their arrests were politically motivated.
Their actions represent an unusual act of political defiance for
Tajikistan but do not likely represent a new trend of activism,
in a country where most citizens prefer to keep their heads
down, and demonstrations are still linked in the public
consciousness with the onset of the civil war. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On November 4 the DPT's Dushanbe branch officials
decided to hold a small demonstration with placards and signs in
front of the Ministry of Justice (reftel). The members
consulted with Rahmatullo Zoyirov, one of Tajikistan's
preeminent lawyers and also the chairman of the Social
Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT),prior to the
demonstration. Zoyirov advised the group that it would not be
illegal for them to "picket" in front of the Ministry of
Justice-that if they did so, they would not be "demonstrating."
If others so happen to join then, so be it. Unfortunately, for
the DPT members, Zoyirov's interpretation of the law failed
them.


3. (C) As Gulyaev explained to PolOff, the demonstrators were
barely able to climb out of the car in front of the Ministry of
Justice when police rushed to apprehend them. The
demonstration was stopped before it could even begin. Within
one hour, authorities arrested DPT members, Rajabi Mirzo,
Khairiddin Gulyaev and Temur Toshev who is the brother of
imprisoned DPT chairman, Mahmadruzi Iskandarov. Because of this
swift action, Gulyaev believes the Ministry of Security had
bugged DPT members' phones. Only a few select people knew about
the demonstration ahead of time, including some members from the
SDPT and the unregistered faction of the Socialist Party of
Tajikistan. A total of 15-16 others who were prepared to take
part in the demonstration were not arrested or questioned by the
police. These three DPT leaders were targeted.


4. (SBU) According to Temur Toshev, he did not even
participate in the demonstration; he simply gave other DPT
members a ride to the Ministry of Justice. He departed the
scene and had no intention of participating in the
demonstration. Within one hour, authorities later called him in
for questioning and led him to believe they were out to charge
him with a lesser crime of traffic violations.


5. (C) The process by which the three men were arrested, tried
and sentenced violated their legal rights. Within a span of
five hours, the members were arrested, taken into the police
station, interrogated, brought to trial in front of a judge, and
sentenced to 15 days in prison. They did not have access to a
lawyer. Gulyaev and Toshev told PolOff they believed the trial
in front of the judge was a sham. There were only a handful of
people in the room during the trial: the judge, the defendant,
and a Ministry of Interior official. Toshev did not clearly
understand the charges being brought against him until it was
too late, as he understood he was being brought in on charges of
traffic violations. Gulyaev and Toshev told PolOff that they
were not mistreated or tortured while in prison. (Note: The
third DPT member, Rajabi Mirzo, has been out of town and did not

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meet with PolOff.)


6. (SBU) The official charge against the three men was
"demonstrating without a permit." Demonstrations are illegal in
Tajikistan without prior permission from the government. During
the past year, other political groups have attempted to organize
passive demonstrations, even ones regarding issues unrelated to
the Tajik government, but were turned down. Deputy DPT Chairman
Rahmatullo Valiev, knowing the ramifications of the
demonstration, was against the idea, but could not discourage
the group. Police also accused the members of intending to
"inflame the people" and cause a high profile incident before
the election in order to embarrass Rahmonov in the international
arena. The Democratic Party members denied these charges and
argued they were simply protesting the Ministry of Justice's
corrupt decision to register the Vatan faction as the official
Democratic Party of Tajikistan.


7. (C) COMMENT: The detainees' story differs significantly
from other accounts of the demonstration. Some observers claim
that the demonstrators managed to unfurl a banner at the
Ministry of Justice before being detained. Although the men may
have been guilty of demonstrating without a permit under Tajik
law, they were not afforded a fair trial and were denied basic
civil rights. The police moved in to arrest the men because
they may have believed that even a small demonstration could
incite violence and did not want to allow that possibility right
before the November 6 election.


8. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: The demonstration was an unusual act
of defiance from normally passive Tajiks, who rarely confront
their government or publicly complain about injustice. However,
this small gesture landed the DPT members where most would have
predicted: in jail, with little public sympathy or support. The
government employs rule by law, not rule of law, to forbid
demonstrations, squash dissent and restrict freedom of speech.
These arrests demonstrate that criticism of the government will
not be tolerated in Tajikistan and citizens will be even less
likely to raise public complaints in the future. END COMMENT.
JACOBSON