DUSHANBE, May 5, 2014, Asia-Plus – One of activists of the former United Tajik Opposition (UTP) and ex-chairman of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT), Mahmadruzi Iskandarov, is 60 years of age.

Mahmadruzi Iskandarov, who is currently serving his jail term in one of penal colonies in Tajikistan, was born on May 3, 1954.

Iskandarov was on the opposition side during the 1992-97 civil war, but was given a government post in the power-sharing arrangement that formed part of the peace deal (under the peace deal signed in Moscow in 1997, the opposition was entitled to a 30-percent quota in Tajikistan''s state institutions).

Mahmadruzi Iskandarov had headed Tojikgaz (Tajik state natural gas distributor) for several years.

Tajik General Prosecutor’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against Iskandarov in 2004.  

Mahmadruzi Iskandarov was arrested in Dushanbe in April 2005 after he was transferred from Russia to Tajikistan under mysterious circumstances.

On October 5, 2005, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced Mahmadruzi Iskandarov to 23 years in prison. The sentence followed his conviction on charges of terrorism, the embezzlement of state funds, and the illegal storage of weapons. The court also imposed a 1.5 million-somoni fine and stripped Iskandarov of all previous state honors and awards, including revoking his rank of Major-General.

In September 2010, the European Court of Human Rights secured the claim of Mahmadruzi Iskandarov against Russian authorities.

According to Iskandarov’s lawyers, the lawsuit was filed over Russian law enforcement authorities’ support for detention of Iskandarov in Russia.

Mahmadruzi Iskandarov claims that he was abducted by Tajik security forces in the Russian city of Korolyov on April 16, 2005 and illegally transferred to Tajikistan on April 22, 2005.

The European Court of Human Rights established that Russian law enforcement authorities violated rights of Tajik national, contributing to illegal extradition of him to Tajikistan.  The court ordered Russian law enforcement authorities to pay 30,000 euros to Iskandarov for moral damage and 3,000 euros for legal costs.