The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and another UN expert to the Government of Tajikistan on 23 April 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 9 June 2025, which is currently being translated and will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged sentencing of an independent journalist and woman human rights defender, Ms. Rukhshona Khakimova, to eight years of imprisonment in a closed trial that may be linked to her human rights and journalistic work.
Ms. Rukhshona Khakimova is a 31-year-old independent journalist and woman human rights defender from Tajikistan. She has worked in the journalistic sphere since 2013, including at the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Tajikistan, National Association of Independent Mass Media in Tajikistan, and leading media outlets, where she covered the issues of children’s and women’s rights, religious freedom, detainees’ rights and torture, and health care and education issues.
We previously wrote to the Government of Tajikistan on 12 May 2023 (AL TJK 1/2023), 4 October 2022 (AL TJK 3/2022), and 13 July 2022 (AL TJK 2/2022) regarding six independent journalists and bloggers covering human rights issues who were arbitrarily arrested and detained, criminalised, and convicted in closed-door trials. We also highlighted additional concerns related to due process and fair trial regarding some of these cases.
ALLEGATIONS
On 16 July 2024, Ms. Rukhshona Khakimova was apprehended outside her home in Dushanbe by four police officers and was reportedly detained at the Department of Internal Affairs of Dushanbe City from 12.45 p.m. until 12.00 a.m. According to information received, she was a witness in a criminal case at the time, and no arrest warrant had been issued.
In her absence, unknown individuals – allegedly law enforcement operatives – gained access to her home and reportedly seized her professional equipment, including a laptop, phone, and voice recorder, along with documents belonging to her, her husband, and their children. It is alleged that this was done to prevent them from leaving the country. No search warrant was provided, and no official record of the seizure reportedly exist.
Later in July, Ms. Khakimova was detained again by officers from the prosecutor’s office – once more as a witness and without a warrant.
Also in July, Ms. Khakimova was charged under article 305 part 2 (d) of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code (“treason against the state using official position”); however, she and her lawyer were reportedly not informed of the precise charges for several months and were also denied access to the case documents for a significant period.
The case against her was investigated by the Prosecutor General’s Office and was part of a broader investigation against a group of people, all other defendants in which were former senior government officials and politicians, who were allegedly accused of extremism, espionage, and an attempted coup d’état.
The charges against Ms. Khakimova were related to her involvement in a project by an independent regional research group specialising in applied social research and analytics on matters of public interest. As part of this project, she is said to have interviewed 30 respondents on financial aid and other assistance provided to Tajikistan by the Chinese Government. Two of the respondents were reportedly defendants in the broader criminal case. The questions of the research project were of a general political and economic nature. According to some reports, the same research was conducted in other Central Asian countries.
The case was classified, and Ms. Khakimova and her lawyer were subjected to non-disclosure obligations.
On 5 February 2025, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan found Ms. Khakimova guilty and sentenced her to eight years of imprisonment. The court reportedly refused to apply an alternative punishment that did not involve imprisonment, despite her having children who were two and a half years old and nine months old at the time, and despite such practice allegedly existing in Tajikistan. The court also reportedly ordered the full seizure of her property in favour of the state as an additional punishment, leaving her family in a precarious financial situation. The hearings were conducted behind closed doors at the Dushanbe detention centre with no access of family, public, and the press. The lawyer was allegedly not given a copy of the verdict.
On 2 April 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict after a closed hearing at the Dushanbe detention centre.
According to information received, since 5 February 2025, lawyer and relatives (including children) have not been able to meet with Ms. Khakimova and the parcels with food and medicines were refused to be transferred.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our serious concerns regarding due process and the fairness of the trial that led to Ms. Rukhshona Khakimova’s conviction. We are concerned by allegations that law enforcement operatives accessed her home in her absence and seized professional equipment and documents without a warrant or proper records. We are also deeply concerned about whether she was able to present an adequate defence, as allegations indicate that she and her lawyer were not informed of the precise charges for several months, were denied access to case documents for a significant period, and that her lawyer was neither provided with a copy of the verdict nor permitted to meet with her following her conviction – both essential for preparing an appeal.
Furthermore, we note with concern that the case was classified, that she and her lawyer were placed under non-disclosure obligations, and that both the trial and appeal hearings were conducted behind closed doors. We also note with concern that the investigations and legal charges against her are based on her journalistic work, and that no public interest protections have been granted to her in relation to her status as a journalist. This information appears consistent with an alleged pattern of practices used in criminal cases of human rights defenders and journalists, which we have previously raised in communication AL TJK 1/2023 and in the country visit report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (A/HRC/55/50/Add.1).
There are serious concerns that her prosecution and conviction may, in reality, be linked to her legitimate human rights and journalistic work rather than any criminal offence.
We are thus concerned that Ms. Khakimova’s ongoing detention may be arbitrary, and that her two detentions in July 2024 could also be considered arbitrary, depending on the circumstances.
Finally, we are concerned by reports that her family, including her young children, have been denied visits since her conviction, and that parcels containing food and medicines have not been delivered to her. If these allegations are true, this appears to be an attempt to exert additional pressure on her.
In light of these serious allegations, we are also concerned about the broader chilling effect on journalists and human rights defenders in Tajikistan, especially women, who may be discouraged from carrying out legitimate human rights and journalistic work and exercising their right to freedom of expression.
