Mahmurod Odinaev, who held the post of deputy of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan before his arrest, for a long time dealt with issues of protecting the rights of prisoners, often criticizing the actions of law enforcement agencies and authorities on social networks.
“He was specially provoked by illegally sending employees of the military enlistment office to his home, and when he succumbed to this provocation, insulting, in the opinion of the investigation, representatives of the authorities, they found a more significant article – an accusation of extremism, which is also far-fetched,” says one of Mahmurod Odinaev’s associates.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Tajikistan stated that on November 17, 2020, on his Facebook page, Mahmurod Odinaev posted photos of activists of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (which is banned in the country), Group-24 movement and the National Alliance of Tajikistan. “In his provocative post, he unreasonably expressed dissatisfaction with the policies of the current leadership of Tajikistan and called for an illegal protest outside the government building with the aim of forcibly changing the constitutional order of Tajikistan.”
However, Odinaev himself at the trial called such an accusation ‘absolutely groundless’. According to the politician, the call for protest cannot be regarded as a call for a violent change of the constitutional order. In addition, as users of social networks noticed, there was no such appeal on November 16 on the Facebook page of the opposition politician.
During the trial, Odinaev also stated that he was tortured by investigators, employees of pre-trial detention center and the Organized Crime Control Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan, who beat him during the investigation. However, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Tajikistan denied the fact of torture against the oppositionist. Yusuf Rahmon, the Prosecutor General of Tajikistan, stated at the press conference on February 2, 2021, “All these allegations, that he was beaten, are lies and provocations.”
Odinaev was convicted by the court in January 2021 of hooliganism and public calls for extremist activities and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The relatives of the oppositionist then stated that they considered his sentence unfair and emphasized that he would most likely not survive 14 years in prison.
And now, after more than a year, the sons of Odinaev met with their father in the prison hospital of the colony in Vakhdat. “We are very concerned about the state of health of our father. He came to our meeting on crutches and with the help of two people. My father complains about feeling unwell. It turns out that during that time he was hospitalized three times in the prison hospital,” said Khabibullo Rizoev, the son of Mahmurod Odinaev.
According to Rizoev, the current state of his father is the result of torture. “Our father is dissatisfied with the negligent attitude of the medical staff of the prison hospital to their duties. He complains of severe pain in the spine and legs,” he noted. However, the Main Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Punishments of Tajikistan denies the fact of cruel treatment of the prisoner and says that Odinaev complained of pain in the spine and legs long before being transferred to the colony.
According to Khabibullo Rizoev, his father intends to appeal to various authorities to prove that the case against him was fabricated. The arrest and criminal punishment of Mahmurod Odinaev is considered by his relatives and associates as the revenge of the authorities for criticism.
Source:ACCA Media
