DUSHANBE, April 11, 2015, Asia-Plus – The Social-Democratic Party (SDP) activist Firdavs Nazarov has reportedly been released after the more than a month-long trial.

SDP leader Rahmatillo Zoyirov says Firdavs Nazarov was released on April 10 after the more than a month-long trial in the Qurghon Teppa city court, Khatlon province.

We will recall that Nazarov, who intended to run in Tajikistan’s March 1 parliamentary election, was detained in February on embezzlement charges

According to Zoyirov, the SDP nominated Nazarov as a parliamentary candidate in January, but he was informed on January 31 that he was barred from running because he was under investigation.

Firdavs Nazarov, who leads the SDP’s organization in Khatlon’s Khuroson district, was apprehended on February 3 and sent t a detention center in Qurghon Teppa, the capital of Khatlon province.

The authorities said in February that the accusations against Firdavs Nazarov were linked to the disappearance of $43,000 from a bank where Nazarov used to work as a financial expert.

Founded in 2002, the Social-Democratic Party was registered on December 20, 2002.  It was originally registered as the Party of Justice and Development on February 5, 1999.  Tajikistan''s Ministry of Justice requested the same year that the Supreme Court ban the party''s activities and its registration was canceled.  The party re-emerged and was registered under the name of the Social-Democratic Party in late 2002.  Chairman of the Social-Democratic Party is Rahmatillo Zoyirov and the party reportedly has more than 8,000 members.