The leader of a political movement of Tajikistan «Group 24» Umarali
Kuvatov is in detention in Istanbul since 19 December 2014.
According to current information available to
our organisation, Umarali Kuvatov is detained in the police department for
foreigners of the Bureau of Centre for Deportations (Yabancilar Şubesi
Sinsrdişi Işlemleri ve Geri Gönderme Merkezi Büro Amirliği). Before that he was
held in the Gayreteppe police station of Istanbul (Istanbul Gayrettepe Asayis
Sube Mudurlugu Hirsizlik Buro Amirligi).
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| Umarali Kuvatov |
Umarali Izatovich
Kuvatov was born on
21 November 1968 in the city of Dushanbe. He is a citizen of Tajikistan,
married and has children. He is an entrepreneur.
From 2001 to 2012 U. Kuvatov, in
cooperation with Shamsullo Sokhibov, the sun-in-law of the President Imomali
Rakhmon, worked on shipment of fuel to the NATO base in Afghanistan. As a
result of a conflict with Sokhibov, he had to leave the country and became a
member of the opposition.
In 2012 Kuvatov became a leader of
the «Group 24» movement, which campaigns for stopping the President of
Tajikistan. In 2014 Tajikistan declared the «Group 24» an «extremist organisation».
Kuvatov has been living in Turkey since July
2014. He entered Turkey on a passport to someone else's name, explaining that
it was the only way to avoid his arrest on departure from Bishkek. In 2013, in
Bishkek, Kuvatov applied for international protection under the UNHCR and his
case is still pending. In the first days after his arrival, he registered with the
UNHCR Office in Istanbul. However, he did not register with the Turkish police
which lead to a violation of administrative law of Turkey.
Tajikistan declared Kuvatov as a wanted person and
calls the "Group of 24" an extremist organisation.
About 8:30 AM, on 19 December 2014, 7 plain
clothed men stormed into the house in Istanbul where Umarali Kuvatov lives with
his family. They asked him to identify himself after which they lead away him
and other three members of the «Group 24» who were in his house. His house was
searched; appliances and a large number of documents relating to political
activity of the leader were seized.
The UNHCR is aware of Umarali Kuvatov’s
detention, but until now the UNHCR representatives have not visited him and they
did not provide legal representation for him. The lawyer hired by Umarali
Kuvatov’s wife was able to review the case file, but copies of the documents were
seized from him. According to Kuvatov’s wife, copies of documents were taken
from the lawyer in front of her, they said that it is a special case and
therefore the information was classified. As it appears, the case materials
contain some information that Kuvatov reported only to the UNHCR.
The Association for Human
Rights in Central Asia — AHRCA expresses its concern about the situation of the leader of Tajik opposition
organisation “Group 24” Umarali Kuvatov and his colleagues Husain Ashuro (date
of birth 01.02.1981), Sukhrob Turaev (date of birth 24.11.1978), Abdurashid
Khomidov (date of birth 15.12.1989). They all are citizens of Tajikistan. We
call on the UNHCR to enforce the principle of confidentiality in this regard,
as well as effective international protection from torture and forced
extradition to Tajikistan.
