International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), the Tajikistan Civil Society Coalition against Torture and Impunity, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR, Poland), Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), Freedom Now, Civil Rights Defenders, as well as International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders warmly welcome the decision of the Martin Ennals Foundation to grant its annual award to Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, thus honouring his courage and outstanding human rights work in Tajikistan.
Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, a lawyer and Director of the Lawyers Association of Pamir (LAP) in Tajikistan’s Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), is unable to attend the ceremony in Geneva on 21 November 2024 in person as he is serving a 16-year-long prison sentence after being found guilty of unfounded charges brought in retaliation for his human rights work.
Kholiqnazarov was punished after he accepted an invitation to participate in investigations into the indiscriminate and excessive use of force by law enforcement officers against participants of mass protests in GBAO in November 2021 and for his tireless work for justice. He was first arrested in May 2022; the trial against him took place behind closed doors in December 2022 and failed to meet international fair trial standards. Kholiqnazarov is confined in a prison facility in Dushanbe and suffers from poor health including severe back problems.
In addition to Tajikistani and international human rights NGOs, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other international human rights experts have repeatedly raised concerns about Manuchehr’s imprisonment and called for his release.
The Tajikistani authorities should now heed to these calls, promptly release this prominent human rights defender and allow him to reunite with his family.
“This award pays tribute to our wonderful colleague, respected lawyer Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov, whose work for justice for vulnerable victims of human rights victims we always admired and valued. We hope that Manuchehr today knows that he is not forgotten and that his friends continue to fight for his release and his swift reunification with his family. ” – Brigitte Dufour, Director of IPHR
“Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov is a well-deserved choice for this year’s Martin Ennals Award. The prize to Kholiqnazarov is in the spirit of Martin Ennals and brings recognition to Kholkinazarov’s sacrifice and tireless work for human rights in Tajikistan. We hope the award will help bring international attention to the ongoing human rights crisis in Tajikistan and the precarious situation in the autonomous Gorno-Badakhshan Region” – Berit Lindeman, Secretary General of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.