Four years ago, on November 8, 2016, regular amendments were made to the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, namely, 137 articles were added according to which a person can be imprisoned for five years for public insult or slander against the Founder of peace and national unity, the Leader of the Nation. The appearance of this article in the Criminal Code was not a surprise, since one year earlier the Law “On the Founder of Peace and National Unity – the Leader of the Nation” was adopted in the country, which officially proclaimed Rakhmonov the lifelong leader of the nation, even then the law prescribed that Rakhmonov should be honored, respected, do not think or say anything bad about him. And with the advent of an article of the Criminal Code for publicly insulting or slandering the Leader of the Nation (the current government, speaking normal language), at the legislative level they were forbidden to speak, write, distribute through print media, social networks, the media, the Internet any criticism of the president’s actions, any information defaming his honor and dignity. Various human rights international organizations have met with new article 137 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan with criticism, noting that the cult of Rakhmonov’s personality is increasing every year in the country, human rights and fundamental freedoms are violated, and the opposition is destroyed. Now the law allows only to admire Rakhmonov’s wise policies and to remain silent, to remain silent about all atrocities, violations of the law, human rights, theft on a global scale and impoverishment of the nation. He already forbade us to speak, and now he is doing everything to make and teach us to think as he should. Rakhmonov considers everyone stupid who does not understand that the adoption of such laws reinforces the cult of personality and the totalitarian regime in the country. He and his entourage want to do everything beautifully, allegedly Rakhmonov in sweat of face has been working for the benefit of the nation for 28 years and deserves an honorary title and respect. He is trying to show how sacred his person is for the people and history of our country, and that is why the people must unconditionally believe him and treat him with reverent awe, without even thinking about criticism. But in order to surely force the people to honor Rakhmonov, it is necessary to criminalize any manifestation of disrespect. In fact, you just need to love your people, give people the opportunity to live in a free, prosperous country, work for the benefit of the nation, and not your large family, and then you will not need to invent any anti-democratic laws and articles of the Criminal Code, you will not need to threaten criminal responsibility for freedom of speech and opinion.
Group of 24 political movement.
