Shabnam Khudoydodova not allowed to meet with lawyer

Shabnam Khudoydodova, arrested activist of “Group 24”, hasn't been allowed to meet with a lawyer for over ten days.

As reported by her sister, citizen of Tajikistan Mizhgona Khudoydodova, the lawyer has been unable to meet with his client for a long time already. Therefore, Shabnam is still kept in informational isolation, which causes her mental suffering.

The reason why the lawyer is not admitted to the remand prison is that the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus does not issue him a special permit to visit the client.

“Earlier, all lawyers had to receive such permits to visit their clients in remand prisons or temporary detention facilitties. However, more than a year ago this practice was abolished as illegal. Strangely enough, it was preserved for those held in custody under international conventions.

However, the problem is not just in receiving the permit. A more serious problem is that the body leading the proceedings, doesn't issue the permit or delays its issuance, as can be observed in the case of Shabnam Khudoydodova. International bodies equal detention in such conditions to torture," commented the lawyer and human rights activist Raman Kisliak.

In turn, the Association "Human Rights in Central Asia” (AHRCA) expresses concern that Shabnam Khudoydodova has no access to legal protection in Belarus and is cut off from the outside world,
and such conditions of detention are detrimental to her health and are comparable to torture.

Therefore, the human rights organization urges the international monitors of human rights to urge Belarus to comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Let us remind that Shabnam Khudoydodova, an opposition activist from Tajikistan, was detained in Belarus on June 15 and is held in a detention center in Brest. She was detained at the request of Tajikistan, being charged under Art. 37 of the Criminal Code of Tajikistan "Responsibility of accomplice". The activist is facing extradition from Belarus, torture and conviction in her motherland. AHRCA regards the prosecution of Sh. Khudoydodova as politically motivated.