Buzurgmehr Foundation, a human rights organization founded by relatives of political prisoners in exile, in its statement on November 7 said that Oraz Vazirbekov’s verdict was politically motivated, groundless and called on the Tajik authorities to immediately release him.
Buzurgmehr Foundation also called on the Tajik authorities to “stop harassment of civil society activists, holding court proceedings behind closed doors in pre-trial detention centers and jails, stop putting pressure on lawyers, relatives of prisoners and allow the media to fully and timely inform the public about the progress of such socially significant trials.”
Civil society activist Oraz Vazirbekov was abducted by Tajik law enforcement officers in Moscow and forcibly brought to Dushanbe on July 29, 2022. He was a Russian citizen. In February 2022, he appealed to the Russian authorities that his life was in danger and he was threatened with abduction and forced deportation to Tajikistan.
On July 29, 2022, he was detained at the Domodedovo airport in Moscow, Russia. A day later, the Behdosht TV YouTube channel, which cooperates with Tajik law enforcement agencies, published a video, where Oraz Vazirbekov was in suspicious state, said that he had voluntarily returned to his homeland to answer questions from the law enforcement agencies in connection with the unrest in the city of Khorog, GBAO