Tajik opposition lawmaker arrested on coup plot charges

“MP Saiddjafar Usmonzoda was stripped of his immunity and placed under arrest” at the request of the attorney general, Khovar reported.

The arrested MP once ran for president and is the only member of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan to serve in the lower house of parliament dominated by Rakhmon's party and other parties largely loyal to the president.

Usmonzoda is accused of having plotted a coup d'état with the support of two organizations described as “terrorist” and banned by the Tajik authorities: the National Alliance of Tajikistan (PMT) and the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

The official news agency reported that Usmonzoda discussed in a September 2021 phone call with a PMT leader the participation of “more than 3,000 fighters” from Jamaat Ansarullah, a jihadist group active on the Afghan border. .

The “criminal plan” consisted of taking control of law enforcement buildings and military structures, “seizing weapons and overthrowing the government by force”, the official news agency reported.

It says Usmonzoda promised to rally his supporters and demanded $10 million from a “representative of a foreign country.”

Khovar reported that Usmonzoda was arrested as a suspect, while asserting that his “guilt is fully proven by the evidence of the criminal case.”

Tajikistan was devastated by a bloody civil war between 1992 and 1997, pitting pro-government forces loyal to Rakhmon against a mix of Islamist, democratic and regional groups.

Rakhmon's supporters credit him with reconciling the divided country. Portraits of the president are widely displayed and he bears the official title of “founder of peace and national unity”.

Tajikistan is ranked 155th out of 180 countries in the press freedom ranking established by Reporters Without Borders.

bk-am/dt/lth