Tajik parlmt to consider amnesty bill for independence anniversary.

DUSHANBE, August 19 (Itar-Tass) - The lower house of the Tajikistani
parliament on Friday will consider the bill "On Amnesty," initiated by
President Emomali Rakhmon in honour of the 20th anniversary of state
independence of the country.
The bill provides for the release from prison of about 15,000 convicts
and persons under investigation from among Tajikistani citizens and
foreigners. This will be the 10th amnesty in the post-Soviet Tajikistan
and the largest one regarding the number of released, which local media
have called "gold."
It is stressed in an official commentary of the presidential
administration that "subject to release are minors, men older than 55
years, people with disabilities of all three groups, WW2 participants and
equated to them veterans of local wars, liquidators of the Chernobyl
nuclear disaster, foreign nationals and other categories of persons
convicted for minor crimes."
For the first time in the "presidential pardon" practice members of
illegal religious non-governmental organisations and parties, as well as
participants in two anti-government riots of 1997 and 1998, led by
ex-colonel of the armed forces of Tajikistan Makhmud Khudoiberdyev, who
has served three-quarters of his total prison term, may be released. Those
convicted for terrorism, murder and other serious crimes will not be
released.
However, independent Tajikistani experts note that Makhmud
Khudoiberdyev is unlikely to be amnestied. During the Civil War
Khudoiberdyev was a prominent field commander of the pro-government
Popular Front that brought to power the current president and then took up
arms against him. After the defeat, the rebel colonel took refuge in a
neighbouring republic, whose authorities did not respond to systematic
extradition requests from Dushanbe. The presidential pardon can hardly
expected for the three high-profile political prisoners - former Interior
Minister Yakub Salimov, a prominent field commander of the armed
opposition, leader of the Tajik Democrats Makhmadruzi Iskandarov and
ex-commander of the Presidential Guard Gaffor Mirzoyev, sentenced (the
latter - to life imprisonment) for terrorism and an attempted coup d'etat.
Once part of the Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent
republic of the Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the Tajik
Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR). Mountains cover over 90 percent of
this Central Asian republic.
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating civil war,
which lasted from 1992 to 1997. Since the end of the war, newly
established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's
economy to grow. Trade in commodities such as cotton, aluminium and
uranium has contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
Tajikistan is officially a republic, and holds elections for the
Presidency and Parliament. It is, however, a one party dominant system,
where the People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan routinely has a vast
majority in Parliament. The parliamentary elections in 2005 aroused many
accusations from opposition parties and international observers that
President Emomali Rakhmon corruptly manipulates the election process. The
most recent elections, in February 2010, saw the ruling PDPT lose 4 seats
in Parliament, yet still maintain a comfortable majority. OSCE election
observers said the 2010 polling "failed to meet many key OSCE commitments"
and that "these elections failed on many basic democratic standards." The
government insisted that only minor violations had occurred, which would
not affect the will of the Tajik people.
Freedom of the press is officially guaranteed by the government,
although independent press outlets remain restricted, as does a
substantial amount of web content. According to the Institute for War &
Peace Reporting, access is blocked to local and foreign websites including
avesta.tj, Tjknews.com, ferghana.ru and centrasia.ru and journalists are
often obstructed from reporting on controversial events. In practice, no
public criticism of the regime is tolerated and all direct protest is
severely suppressed and does not get reported in the local media.
The presidential election held on November 6, 2006 was boycotted by
"mainline" opposition parties, including the 23,000-member Islamic
Renaissance Party. Four remaining opponents "all but endorsed the
incumbent," Rakhmon.
Tajikistan has given Iran its support in Iran's membership bid to join
the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, after a meeting between the
Tajikistani President and the Iranian foreign minister.
-0-ezh/ast