Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov is a prominent human rights defender from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), Tajikistan. One of the only 873 lawyers left for a population 10 million inhabitants, he is respected for his work as Director of the Lawyers Association of Pamir (LAP), one of the few civil society organisations in the GBAO liquidated in December 2022, and as a member of the Civil Society Coalition against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan, the Public Council on Police Reform and the Coalition on Housing Rights.
In a context of heightened tensions and militarization of the region by central authorities, Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov , as part of Commission 44, ensured the mediation between the authorities and the Pamiri population – the minority living in the GBAO that represents about 4% of the population in Tajikistan, and monitored the investigation into extensive police brutality and the death of youth leader Gulbiddin Ziyobekov and two protesters in November 2021. Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, as part of a group of 6 civil society representatives, also supported investigators from the Office of the General Prosecutor in a visit to the GBAO during which was uncovered forensic evidence that Gulbiddin Ziyobekov was killed unlawfully by security forces. The results of the investigation were never communicated officially, and authorities have instead shown hostility and denial over the allegations.
Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov was arrested on 28 May 2022, after being invited for an informal conversation at the Khorog Prosecutor’s Office, together with two other members of Commission 44. The case against him was classified as a State secret, for which the disclosure of information leads to criminal liability. The trial was held behind closed doors in a pretrial detention center, without access to his lawyer or the evidence used against him, in violation of any free and fair judicial proceedings. He is serving a 16 year-long prison sentence, in a prison far from away his family, in conditions concerning for his well-being.
A statement by the Prosecutor General’s Office on 26 January 2023 announced that the Supreme Court found him guilty of establishing a criminal association and an extremist organization, under articles 187 (1), 307 (3) (1) of the Criminal Code. Several international experts and bodies, including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, concluded that his detention is arbitrary and called for his immediate and unconditional release. The articles he is charged under relate to terrorism under a broad definition by the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan on Counteracting Terrorism. They have been widely used to silence critics of State policies in the region.
