Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07DUSHANBE1334
2007-09-20 04:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dushanbe
Cable title:  

TAJIKISTAN: IMPRISONED DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN TO BE

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TI 
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DE RUEHDBU #1334 2630402
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R 200402Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0966
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1504
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 1258
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2202
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2256
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2245
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2848
C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001334 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/19/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: IMPRISONED DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN TO BE
RETURNED TO RUSSIA?

REF: 06 DUSHANBE 707

CLASSIFIED BY: TJACOBSON, AMBASSADOR, STATE, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001334

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/19/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: IMPRISONED DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN TO BE
RETURNED TO RUSSIA?

REF: 06 DUSHANBE 707

CLASSIFIED BY: TJACOBSON, AMBASSADOR, STATE, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Rahmatullo Valiev, Deputy Chairman of the Democratic
Party of Tajikistan, met with the Deputy Chief of Mission
September 18. Valiev has been leading the party while its
Chairman, Mahmadruzzi Iskandarov, remains in jail in Dushanbe,
and met with us to discuss Iskandarov's possible release and
return to Russia.


2. (U) On April 16, 2005 Chairman of the Democratic Party of
Tajikistan, Mahmadruzzi Iskandarov, was abducted from the
streets of Moscow, and then reappeared in Tajikistan, for trial.
The government charged him with terrorism, illegal use of
weapons, misuse of state funds, and organizing illegal groups,
and sentenced him to 23 years in prison beginning January 2006.
Iskandarov alleges he was kidnapped by Russian authorities and
forcibly extradited back to Tajikistan where security forces
tortured him while in custody. Iskandarov may have committed
the crimes the government charged him with; however, the
international community, including UN offices, deemed his
illegal extradition and subsequent trial through the Tajik
justice system as nontransparent and not in accordance with the
law. As a popular political party leader, Iskandarov may have
posed a threat to President Rahmon or his ruling People's
Democratic Party of Tajikistan, and the extradition was likely
politically motivated.


3. (C) The government never gave an official response to
Iskandarov's accusations. In the September 18 meeting, Valiev
produced a 2005 diplomatic note from the Tajik Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to the United Nations with an attached document
that states that the Russian internal affairs forces officially
handed over Iskandarov to Tajik authorities. This admission
demonstrates explicit cooperation between Russian and Tajik
authorities to effect the extradition. Iskandarov's lawyer in
Moscow, Anna Savitskaya, had filed an appeal with the European
Court of Human Rights in 2005 over his extradition from Russian.
Russia has denied its role in the extradition.


4. (C) Valiev told the DCM that Russian Federal Security
Service agents approached Iskandarov's son in Moscow
approximately one month ago, and notified him that Iskandarov
would be returned to Russia by the end of October. Valiev did
not offer a reason as to why the Russians want Iskandarov back
in Russia, but he does not think that Iskandarov would be placed
in a Russian jail because there are no charges or warrants for
his arrest in Russia. The Democratic Party of Tajikistan has
not received any corroborating information from Tajik
authorities concerning Iskandarov's release or removal to
Russia, but Russian agents told Iskandarov's son that "the
question had been settled," indicating that an agreement between
Russian and Tajik authorities had been arranged.


5. (C) Valiev asked the DCM if Iskandarov could obtain
political asylum in the United States. The DCM explained
general criteria for political asylum and noted that the U.S.
Embassies in Dushanbe and Moscow could not grant political
asylum. The DCM explained the role of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees in determining refugee status should
Iskandarov end up in Moscow, and passed contact information for
the Commission's Dushanbe office in case Valiev wised to
research this issue further.


6. (C) COMMENT: Iskandarov's return to Russia could lead to
his freedom. Both countries may have been feeling international
pressure over the past two years to release Iskandarov. The
State Department's annual Country Report on Human Rights
highlights Iskandarov's case, and Valiev was able to raise it
with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights during her visit
earlier this year. It is in the Tajik government's interest to
wipe their hands of a high profile political detainee. Russia
may wish to avoid having to defend the 2005 extra-legal
extradition in the European Court of Human Rights. END
COMMENT.

JACOBSON