Twelve civil society organisations, including Lawyers for Lawyers, have called for the release of Tajik lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov. In a separate statement, a coalition of bar associations have similarly expressed concern and urged the Tajik authorities to uphold their obligations under intenational human rights law. Download the civil society statement and bar association declaration or read on below.
Tajikistan: Lawyer Wrongfully Held for a Decade
Free Buzurgmehr Yorov and All Others Held for Exercising their Human Rights
Tajikistan’s authorities have wrongfully imprisoned a human rights lawyer for 10 years for exercising his human rights, 12 organizations, including Lawyers for Lawyers, said today. Buzurgmehr Yorov is serving a 23-year prison sentence because of his work representing political opposition leaders.
Tajikistan’s authorities should quash Yorov’s conviction and sentence and release him immediately. The authorities should also release all other prisoners, including lawyers, arbitrarily and unjustifiably detained for peacefully exercising their human rights.
Yorov, 54, earned a reputation as one of the most fearless human rights lawyers in Tajikistan by taking on high-profile legal cases, representing individuals prosecuted by the government on politically motivated charges. In early September 2015, Yorov began representing several members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan. The party had been one of the few officially registered opposition parties in the country, but it was labeled a terrorist organization and banned in September 2015.
On September 28, 2015, police arrested Yorov, raided his home and legal office without a warrant, and ultimately charged him with forgery, fraud, “arousing national, racial, local or religious hostility,” and extremism. The charges appear to have been prompted by an interview Yorov gave shortly before his arrest in which he announced that one of his clients had been tortured in pre-trial detention and called for a coalition of lawyers to join him in representing the detained Islamic Renaissance Party members.
Yorov was held in pre-trial detention for eight months, where he was beaten and held in solitary confinement. On October 6, 2016, after a trial riddled with due process violations, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Since then, his sentence has twice been shortened under mass amnesties. However, authorities have repeatedly brought new, trumped-up charges against him—most recently in July 2023. The ensuing convictions have extended his sentence and pushed his expected release date to September 2043, by which time he will be 72 years old.
Like Yorov’s first trial, those that followed were rife with violations of fair-trial rights, including prohibiting Yorov from freely communicating with or receiving the assistance of counsel or presenting his own defense.
Yorov has been severely mistreated in prison, including through torture, and held incommunicado. The authorities have restricted visits from his wife and reportedly pressured his family not to advocate on his behalf. In May 2019, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion stating that Tajikistan’s detention and treatment of Yorov violated international law and calling for his immediate release. Nevertheless, he remains in prison.
Yorov’s detention and abuse are indicative of a broader human rights crisis in Tajikistan. Under the decades-long rule of President Emomali Rahmon, the rule of law has been weakened in the country, and the authorities have become increasingly repressive. The decline accelerated further after November 2021, when the authorities initiated a violent campaign to repress protests in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, wiping out independent media and civil society in the region.
Dozens of lawyers, civic activists, journalists, community leaders, and others have been arrested and persecuted for politically motivated reasons in recent years, including journalists Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, Mamadsulton Mavlonazarov, and Ruhshona Khakimova, as well as human rights lawyer Manuchehr Kholiknazarov.
Tajikistan’s authorities should release Yorov immediately and unconditionally and release all other prisoners jailed on politically motivated charges. The government should abide by its obligations under international law to protect everyone’s free and peaceful exercise of their human rights.
Tajikistan’s international partners should use bilateral and multilateral diplomacy to raise Yorov’s case and insist on his release.
SIGNATORIES:
Araminta
Amnesty International
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Civil Rights Defenders
Freedom Now
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Human Rights Watch
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
International Commission of Jurists
International Partnership for Human Rights
Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L)
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
For more information, please contact:
For Amnesty International, Alexander Artemyev: alexander.artemyev@amnesty.org.
For CIVICUS: media@civicus.org.
For Freedom Now, Daphne Panayotatos: dpanayotatos@freedom-now.org.
For Human Rights Watch, Syinat Sultanalieva: sultans@hrw.org.
For International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute: IBAHRI@int-bar.org.
For International Partnership for Human Rights, Rachel Gasowski: rachel.gasowski@iphronline.org.
For Lawyers for Lawyers: info@lawyersforlawyers.org.
For Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Marius Fossum: mf@nhc.no.
Separate joint statement by Bar Associations:
Joint Statement by bar associations on the 10th anniversary of Tajik lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov’s arrest
29 September 2025
The undersigned Bar Associations join the international legal and human rights community in expressing our grave concern over the ongoing detention of one of Tajikistan’s most prominent human rights lawyers, Buzurgmehr Yorov. On 28 September 2025, it was ten years since his arrest.
Mr. Yorov is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence as a result of his work representing members of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, one of the country’s few opposition parties before its banning later that year. On 6 October 2016, following proceedings that did not respect international fair trial standards, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. His sentence has since been extended, most recently in July 2023, and his expected release date is now September 2043. We call on the authorities of Tajikistan to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Yorov.
The undersigned bar associations have been informed by Lawyers for Lawyers, and through the Opinion of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (Opinion No. 17/2019), of serious violations in the case of Mr. Yorov.[1] These include his arrest without a warrant,[2] searches of his home and office without due process,[3] denial of access to counsel,[4] intimidation of his lawyers and family,[5] closed and unfair trials,[6] and reports of torture and solitary confinement.[7] The Working Group concluded that Mr. Yorov’s detention was arbitrary and in violation of international law, and called for his immediate release. Despite this, he remains imprisoned.
We urge the Tajikistani authorities to comply with their obligations under international law and to immediately release Buzurgmehr Yorov.
SIGNATORIES:
Bologna Bar Association
Geneva Bar Association
Human Rights Commission of the Fédération des Barreaux d’Europe
Hungarian Bar Association
Institut des droits humains du Barreau de Bruxelles
Institute for the Rule of Law of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA-IROL)
Limburg Bar Association
North-Netherlands Bar Association
Order of French-speaking and German-speaking Bars of Belgium
Ordre des avocats de Nantes (Nantes Bar Association)
Ordre français des avocats du Barreau de Bruxelles
Quebec Association of Defense Lawyers
Supreme Bar Council of Bulgaria
Vaud Bar Association (OAV)
[1] Human Rights Council, Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-four session, 23 April-3 May 2019, A/HRC/WGAD/2019/17.
[2] These acts violate Articles 9 (1) (2) (3), 4 and 15 (1) of the Covenant and Article 11 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
[3] Protected by Article 2 (1), 9 (1) (3), 19 (2), 22 (1), 25 (a) and 26 of the Covenant, and Principles 38 and 39 of the Body of Principles, Articles 7, 9, 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Principles 2 and 36 (2) of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.
[4] These acts violate Article 14 (3) (b) and (d) of the Covenant, Rules 41 (3) and 61 of the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) and Principles 11 (1), 15, 17 (1) and 18 of the Body of Principles.
[5] See above.
[6] These acts violate Article 14 (1) (2) (3) (5) of the Covenant and Article 10 and 11 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Principle 36 (1) of the Body of Principles.
[7] These acts violate Articles 7, 10 (1) and 14 (3) (g) of the Covenant, Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 1, 2 and 16 (1) of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
