The regime of dictator Rahmon, without a shadow of embarrassment, practices the Nazi principle of “Sippenhaftung” towards relatives of oppositionists.

Speech of Mahmudjon Faizrahmonov, head of Tajik Center for Human Rights based in Vienna, Austria

Ladies and Gentlemen,
After the demonstration of the Tajik opposition in Berlin and the incident of throwing eggs at the car carrying Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Berlin, Germany, the Tajik authorities these days intensified pressures on the families of the opposition, including elder fathers and mothers, whose only sin is their relationship with activists.
We Tajik opposition are familiar with such pressures at home and collective punishment has become a common thing in Tajikistan. Unfortunately, the Nazi word „Sippenhaftung“ is not a strange word for us, Tajiks. In Nazi Germany, “Sippenhaftung” term is said for the idea that a family or clan shares the responsibility for a crime or act committed by one of its members, justifying collective punishment.
Despite all these pressures, we have continued and will continue our activities. We will not give up. We have not only been politically active in exile, but we have been active in politics for long time inside Tajikistan. We have the experience of participation in the government and the experience of civil war and peace and afterwards.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Many western politicians and friends say that Central Asia is geographically far away and is not of much interest to them. Yes, it is far, but the impact of the situation in this region on Ukraine, Russia and Europe is not small. For example, take the issue of immigration. We are trying our best to return to our homeland and let our people find jobs in their homeland and live freely and do not think of leaving their country. But the dictators have no skill other than producing millions of immigrants and now they are doing exactly the same thing.
A Lithuanian politician once told us: When we said 10 years ago that the West should pay attention to Central Asia, no one cared, and now the situation in Ukraine has shown that this region is important. However, if this continues, after 10 years Central Europe will become Central Asia. Thanks.