US embassy cable - 05DUSHANBE1701

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001701 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  10/20/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, TI 
SUBJECT: LAWYER'S ARREST COULD SIGNAL GOV'T TIGHTENING SCREWS ON 
DISSENT 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Richard Hoagland, Ambassador, US Embassy 
Dushanbe, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
1.  (U)  Fayzinoso Vohidova, a well-known lawyer and an active 
member of the Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan (SDPT), was 
arrested and charged by the Sughd regional prosecutor's office 
with one criminal act for forgery, and production and sale of 
forged documents, which includes practicing law with a false 
diploma from Moscow State University.  Media reports and local 
NGO workers speculated she was arrested due to her political 
activity.  Vohidova was a candidate in the February 
parliamentary elections until she was disqualified on a 
technicality.  She is being detained while the case is under 
investigation. Her husband and lawyer have visited her on 
multiple occasions. 
 
2.  (C) Vohidova's lawyer, Bakhtiyor Narulloev, told Frank 
Hespe, a lawyer with the American Bar Association/ Central 
European and Eurasia Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI), that Vohidova 
believes the prosecution is personally, not politically, 
motivated, because she has won a number of high-profile cases 
against the local prosecutor's office.  Narulloev explained the 
prosecutor's office threatened to contact over 300 of Vohidova's 
clients to search for evidence of impropriety.  She plans to 
formally admit guilt in order to avoid such action.  (NOTE: 
According to John Hickey, Country Director of ABA/CEELI, it is 
possible her diploma is forged; many lawyers practice without 
legitimate documents in Tajikistan. END NOTE) 
 
3.  (C) However, despite pleading guilty, Vohidova maintains her 
innocence.  She believes the Moscow prosecutor's office, which 
works closely with the Tajikistan prosecutor's office, may have 
doctored the evidence or pressured Moscow State University Law 
School to provide false information.  She intends to travel to 
Moscow upon her release to prove her innocence.  Narulloev 
reported Vohidova does not want additional media attention and 
is urging supporters not to appeal on her behalf through the 
media.  Rather, she would prefer NGOs and embassies to contact 
the government and prosecutor's office. 
 
4.  (U)  BACKGROUND:  Vohidova has been an active lawyer in the 
Sughd region since 1998 and heads the Khojand Legal Advice 
Center.  She has written several articles criticizing the 
government, particularly the regional prosecutor's office.  In 
March 2005, she represented two members of the SDPT from the 
Resolve District who were arrested and imprisoned on charges of 
insulting a judge and resistance to authority.  Vohidova herself 
was a leading candidate in the February 2005 parliamentary 
elections from the Ghaffurov District.  However, she was 
disqualified from the race based on a technicality, for not 
reporting all of her husband's assets on the registration forms. 
 
5.  (U)  In addition, she is a member of the Citizens Rights 
Advocacy Network (CRAN), which is a DRL- funded project of 
ABA/CEELI.  Her NGO, Center for Support of Legal and Economic 
Reforms in Tajikistan, received ABA/CEELI funding for an 
advocacy campaign to improve the status of non-citizens in the 
Ferghana Valley.  In the past two months, she has advocated on 
behalf of those accused in a trafficking-in-persons case. 
 
6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Vohidova's assertion that her arrest was 
personally motivated is plausible.  However, her case inevitably 
sends a message that unauthorized political activism that annoys 
the powers that be is unwelcome in Tajikistan. END COMMENT. 
 
HOAGLAND 
 
 
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