Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva
Prominent journalist and woman human rights defender in the Gorno-Badakhshan region. She is a representative of the indigenous Pamiri minority group and an independent journalist – working with “Asia Plus”, “Argumenti Nedeli”, and has collaborated with “Ferghana”. In recent years, Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva founded the NGO, “Nomus va Insof”, where she had focused on children’s rights, upbringing and education, and women’s rights.
Serving 21 years imprisonment. 18 years remaining
There is no official information, however from unofficial sources it was stated that Mamadshoeva was charged with “publicly calling for violent change of the constitutional order” (art. 307 (2) of the Criminal Code Tajikistan). Moreover, on 19 May 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that Ms. Mamadshoeva had been accused of allegedly supervising and financing the provision of weapons and ammunition to members of a terrorist group (art. 179 (1) and (2) of the Criminal Code) of Tajikistan.
The trial was held behind closed doors and they attended it from prison and without access to their lawyers or the evidence used against them. In December 2022, the Supreme Court of Tajikistan sentenced Mamadshoeva to 21 years in prison.
Mamadshoeva was ordered to serve her sentence at Women’s Penal Colony No. 3/8 in Nurek, Tajikistan.
Mamadshoeva is 68 years old as of today and during her time in the pretrial detention centre of the State Committee for National Security, her mental health deteriorated significantly, as she was predominantly kept in solitary confinement from 25 May 2022 until early December 2022, enduring considerable pressure from the authorities. Subsequently, the medical staff of the pretrial detention centre provided her with medical assistance. Current health condition is not available.
