Rustam Saydahmadzoda, a former judge of the Bobojon court of the Gafurov court of the Sughd region, may be imprisoned for 9 years. That is the term requested by the state prosecution for him, Radio Ozodi reports.
Rustam Saydakhmadzoda is accused of “knowingly false denunciation of a crime”, “illegal sentencing”, “abuse of authority” and “fraud”.
The trial has been going on since November last year. The former judge and his family deny all accusations.
It is expected that on April 3, Rustam Saydakhmadzoda will make his final statement in court.
“Ozodi” found out that earlier Rustam Saidakhmadzoda was also charged with polygamy. However, the charges against the judge were later dropped due to lack of evidence.
Radio sources said that Rustam Saidakhmadzoda was accused of deliberately false denunciation after his letter to Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
“Saidakhmadzoda in this letter complained about the work of the chairman of the court of Bobojon of the Gafurov district in the distribution of criminal cases among the judges, initiated on the facts of illegal allocation of land. The judge complained that the chairman of the court gave his colleagues up to 50-60 such cases a year for consideration, and only 9 for him. In his letter, he asked to create a commission to study this issue. However, he himself was accused of deliberately false denunciation of the crime,” one of the sources said.
Rustam Saidakhmadzoda is also accused of having his sentences overturned by higher judicial authorities.
In just one year, the Sughd Regional Court overturned 11 sentences handed down by the Bobojon Gafurov District Court chaired by Rustam Saidakhmadzoda, two sources told Ozodi.
However, Rustam Saidakhmadzoda’s lawyers say that the overturning of the guilty verdict by a higher authority cannot be qualified as a crime committed by the judge.
On March 30, Ozodi sent an official letter to the Supreme Court of Tajikistan with a request to comment on the sensational case of Rustam Saidakhmadzoda and is waiting for a response.
The trial of the former judge of the Bobojon Gafurov district court is being held in the capital’s pre-trial detention center under the chairmanship of the judge of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan Shodmon Alizoda.
The trial is nearing completion. The day before, the state prosecutor demanded 9 years in prison for the former judge. It is expected that on April 3, Rustam Saydakhmadzoda will make his final statement in court.
Who is Rustam Saydakhmadzoda?
Rustam Saidakhmadzoda, 44, a judge of the Bobojon Court of the Gafurov District of the Sughd Region, was detained on June 29 in Dushanbe.
Rustam Saydakhmadzoda. Archive photo
A week after his arrest, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed a decree stating that Saidakhmadzoda was dismissed “for committing an act discrediting the honor and dignity of a judge.”
Rustam Saidahmadzoda became known after he delivered an acquittal in a sensational case and released the accused from the courtroom. Courts in Tajikistan very rarely issue acquittals and in most cases support the prosecution in criminal cases.
Justice is a hot topic in Tajik society, and experts say that without radical changes in this system, it will be impossible to achieve tangible results in the work of the courts.
Judges in Tajikistan were also widely criticized for this reason, and some experts questioned the fairness of the country’s judicial system, where only a handful of people could prove their innocence.
It is reported that in 2020, the courts in Tajikistan issued 10 acquittals, in 2021 – only 2.
Chairman of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan Shermuhammad Shokhiyon at a press conference in Dushanbe on July 14 last year said that in the first half of the year not a single acquittal was issued by the courts.
Source : Asia Plus
