The Prosecutor’s Office of the Ivanovo Region demanded that the public movement “Group 24”, created in 2012 by businessman Umaraliy Kovatov, who left Tajikistan for Russia, be declared an “extremist” organization.
Kommersant learned that the corresponding claim has been sent to the court in Ivanovo. The defendant in the case is Muhammadjon Rahmatjoni, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for serious crimes in Tajikistan.
The Prosecutor General’s Office claims that the activities of Group 24 “are aimed at intensifying protest sentiments towards the state authorities, calling on the population of the CIS member states to mass unrest and overthrowing the foundations of the constitutional order,” Kommersant wrote. In addition, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, European organizations are using “Group 24-controlled Internet platforms” in a “campaign to discredit Russia,” and their supporters are raising money for the “Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Mammadjon Rakhmatdzuni, who is named in the suit as the leader of the 24th group in Russia, obtained Russian citizenship in 2010. In May 2021, associates of Mammadjon Rakhmatdzuni announced that he had been transferred from Russia to Tajikistan. In September of the same year, a court in Dushanbe sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Russian authorities stated that Rahmatjouni was stripped of his acquired Russian citizenship.
The founder of the 24 group, Omarali Kuvatov, who was accused in Tajikistan of calling for mass unrest, was killed in Istanbul in 2015.
In Tajikistan, the G24 movement was declared extremist in 2014 and banned. Members of Group 24 have repeatedly reported that their comrades were arrested in Russia and Europe and extradited to Tajikistan, where courts sentenced them to long prison terms.