DUSHANBE, July 4, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that John Heathershaw, a Central Asia expert from the University of Exeter in Britain, said the detention of his research collaborator, Alexander Sodiqov, on spying charges in southern Tajikistan set an alarming precedent for future political research in the country.

In an interview with RFE/RL''s Tohir Safarov on July 1, Heathershaw said Sodiqov''s colleagues were providing evidence to the Tajik authorities to prove his innocence.

Alexander Sodiqov, a Tajik national residing in Canada, was detained in the southern Tajik city of Khorog on June 16, shortly after speaking with civil society activists there.