Tajik Activist Deported From Germany Gets 17 Years, Deepening Fear Among Exiles in Europe

A Tajik opposition activist deported from Germany in June has been sentenced to 17 years in prison, according to two sources in Dushanbe who spoke to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity. The charges reportedly include online calls for extremism.

Asadullo Boboev, 54, belongs to the Europe-based opposition movement Reforms and Development of Tajikistan. Sources familiar with the case told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on October 19 that a court in the capital had handed down the sentence on September 21. Tajik authorities have not publicly released details of the case, and RFE/RL's attempts to reach court officials were unsuccessful.

Boboev was removed from Germany together with his 19-year-old son because their residency permits had expired. This happened despite warnings that he could face persecution at home. His wife and daughter were allowed to stay in Germany. In August, relatives learned that he was being held at a Dushanbe detention facility run by the State Committee for National Security.

Human Rights Watch criticized the deportation and warned of the risk of detention and mistreatment. "Boboev's criticism of the Tajik government made him a clear target," said Hugh Williamson, the organization's Europe and Central Asia director, who urged Berlin to investigate and to press Tajik authorities over the detention. Germany's opposition Left Party also submitted a parliamentary inquiry in September asking the government to explain the decision. German authorities did not respond to RFE/RL's requests for comment when the deportation took place.

His case is one of several. Farrukh Ikromov was sentenced to 23 years in 2024 after being deported from Poland. Bilol Qurbonaliev, a member of the banned Group 24 movement, received 10 years following his deportation from Germany in 2023. Hizbullo Shovalizoda, a member of the banned IRPT, was given 20 years after being sent back from Austria in 2020, and Dilmurod Ergashev, expelled from Germany in 2024, received eight years.

Tajikistan's government has long cracked down on political opponents. The IRPT and Group 24 are banned and labelled terrorist organizations, and several of their officials, members and supporters are in prison on extremism-related charges, while dozens have fled the country. Opposition figures and rights advocates say the accusations are used to silence dissent. The US State Department's human rights report, published in August 2025, said Washington opposes forced returns or extraditions of Tajik dissidents, viewing them as part of "transnational repression" by the Tajik government.

Two opposition figures living in Europe told RFE/RL that the case heightened their fear of being sent back, but also fed a broader disillusionment. "It discourages the opposition when someone is deported from a democratic European country and then brutally sentenced," said Farhod Odinaev of the Islamic Renaissance Of Tajikistan, the successor to the IRPT. He added that the cases show no country is protecting Tajik opposition members.

Hisomiddin Roziq, an activist living in Warsaw, said, "We fear that the same thing could happen to any one of us." He said Tajik authorities were pressuring his family to persuade him to come home.

A former Tajik university professor based in Russia, also speaking anonymously, linked the cases to what he described as a wider Western retreat from backing democratic change. Western governments once gave the opposition political support, he said, and Central Asian leaders knew crackdowns could harm relations with the West. "That is not the case anymore," he said, adding that activists might feel they are left on their own.