In mid-February, Tajik state television showed opposition figure Sharofiddin Gadoev, formerly from the banned Group 24, announcing he had returned to Tajikistan from self-exile voluntarily and denouncing other opposition figures who fled the country.
Shortly after his surprising reappearance in Tajikistan, a video Gadoev had recorded earlier while he was in Europe was posted on the Internet in which Gadoev said if he was somehow back in Tajikistan, he was there against his will.
After pressure from many parties, including the governments in Germany and the Netherlands, Gadoev returned to Amsterdam on March 2 and told a very different story about what happened in Tajikistan than the one told by Tajikistan’s state media in February.
RFE/RL's Media-Relations Manager Muhammad Tahir moderated a discussion on Gadoev’s case -- and on previous situations where the accounts of the Tajik authorities are in question.
Joining the discussion from Amsterdam was Gadoev and his lawyer, Viktoriya Nadezhdina. From Europe, Mahmudjon Faizrahmon from the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan participated in the talk. From Washington, the veteran Central Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, Steve Swerdlow, took part. I also had a few things to say on the topic.
Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes.
