Introduction = I
1. Political context: the Soviet legacy and civil war = 4
The civil war = 5
The period after the peace agreement = 7
Tajikistan’s changing international profile = 8
2. Legal context: entrenched secrecy = 11
Tajikistan’s international obligations = 11
The (UN) Human Rights Committee = 12
International standards = 14
The death penalty in Tajikistan’s domestic law and practice = 15
Laws on the death penalty = 16
Executions = 19
Pardons = 21
3. Inadequate investigations and unfair trials = 24
Tajikistan’s international treaty obligations = 24
Laws governing trials and investigations in Tajikistan = 25
The right to appeal = 26
Judicial control of arrests = 28
Access to a lawyer = 30
Torture = 31
Denial of a fair hearing = 34
4. Relentless, cruel and arbitrary: the death penalty in practice = 36
Dilfuza Numonova = 36
Abduali Kurbanov = 38
The Nazriev brothers = 39
Gaybullojon Saidov and Andrey Rebrikov = 41
Saidamir Karimov = 42
Bakhriddin Sangov = 43
Rahmatullo Tashripov = 45
5. ‘Torn between hope and despair’: the plight of relatives = 48
International standards = 48
Tajik law and practice = 48
Davlatbi Nazrieva, the wife of Dovud Nazriev = 49
Mairam Soatova, the mother of Husein Golimov = 52
6. Recommendations for action = 57
Recommendations to the government of Tajikistan = 57
Recommendation to the Russian Federation authorities = 61
Appendix 1. AI’s 12-Point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State = 62
Endnotes = 66
1. Political context: the Soviet legacy and civil war = 4
The civil war = 5
The period after the peace agreement = 7
Tajikistan’s changing international profile = 8
2. Legal context: entrenched secrecy = 11
Tajikistan’s international obligations = 11
The (UN) Human Rights Committee = 12
International standards = 14
The death penalty in Tajikistan’s domestic law and practice = 15
Laws on the death penalty = 16
Executions = 19
Pardons = 21
3. Inadequate investigations and unfair trials = 24
Tajikistan’s international treaty obligations = 24
Laws governing trials and investigations in Tajikistan = 25
The right to appeal = 26
Judicial control of arrests = 28
Access to a lawyer = 30
Torture = 31
Denial of a fair hearing = 34
4. Relentless, cruel and arbitrary: the death penalty in practice = 36
Dilfuza Numonova = 36
Abduali Kurbanov = 38
The Nazriev brothers = 39
Gaybullojon Saidov and Andrey Rebrikov = 41
Saidamir Karimov = 42
Bakhriddin Sangov = 43
Rahmatullo Tashripov = 45
5. ‘Torn between hope and despair’: the plight of relatives = 48
International standards = 48
Tajik law and practice = 48
Davlatbi Nazrieva, the wife of Dovud Nazriev = 49
Mairam Soatova, the mother of Husein Golimov = 52
6. Recommendations for action = 57
Recommendations to the government of Tajikistan = 57
Recommendation to the Russian Federation authorities = 61
Appendix 1. AI’s 12-Point Program for the Prevention of Torture by Agents of the State = 62
Endnotes = 66