Often, the men, who already served in the army, are caught during the recruitment raids. While the authorities admit that the practice is extreme, it is still widespread.
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There are two conscription periods every year in Tajikistan: in spring and autumn. Young people from 18 to 27 years old are conscripted for military service. According to legislation, military service in the Armed Forces of Tajikistan is compulsory. The law provides a deferral from military service for students, sole breadwinners, fathers of at least two children, and persons with medical conditions. According to the regulations of the military conscription, the persons of draft age should receive summons and, in the absence of legal grounds for the deferral, must come to the military registration offices. If a young man evades military service, the authorities have the right to send him to the army by force, which should be carried out by law enforcement agencies.
The Ministry of Defense of Tajikistan constantly repeats that the conditions of military service improved comparing to previous years, and the number of volunteer conscripts increased. However, there are problems with the fulfilment of the conscription plan, and the illegal methods of drafting young people to military are obvious.
A ‘hunt’ for persons of draft age, more commonly known as ‘raid’, which is sometimes used to catch young people, is a violation of the law. The Tajik authorities do not admit the use of raids, but ordinary citizens and analysts repeatedly expressed concern about the forced recruitment of young people, and other illegal methods used in recruiting campaigns. As part of a journalistic investigation, we examined the issue of ‘hunting’ for conscripts in Tajikistan and tried to find out, who is right – ordinary residents complaining about raids, or authorities denying these facts.
With a Military Identity Card – to the Military Service
With the beginning of the conscription period, the residents complain about the violation of their rights. Some residents claim that the authorities try to take them to the military registration office by force, detain them in the streets, markets, workplaces and educational institutions, without summons, and not even asking if a young man already served in the army.
In the interview, a Rudaki district resident Furkat Saidov, 26, said that despite the fact that he already served in the army, he was forcibly and rudely taken from his workplace to the military registration office. According to Furkat, on April 14, 2020, several people in civilian clothes, who introduced themselves as employees of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, took him from his workplace – a retail store in the 82nd micro-district of Dushanbe. When he demanded to present their documents confirming their words, they beat and insulted him, and then, took him away.
According to our source, those people, who took him away by force, convinced the people around that “Furkat stole the phone”, and thus, they easily took him to the military office. Furkat Saidov served in a military unit in Khorugh in 2012-2014. Therefore, after 10 minutes of interrogation at the military registration office, he was released. He says this is the second time he is caught by the raid.
“This is the second time they try to send me to the army. In November 2019, I was detained and pushed into a car. When they pushed me into the car, the car door hit my four fingers and I was injured. After they took me to the military registration office, a man with the rank of colonel asked where I served, I told him everything, and was released,” Furkat says.
Our source Furkat Saidov, who was caught by the raids several times, said that after it turned out that he had a military ID and the issue was resolved, the military officers did not explain their unprofessional actions and did not even apologize.
“Instead of apologizing, they insulted me,” Furkat Saidov told CABAR.asia.
Furkat is not the only person who found himself in such a situation. A young man from Mastchoh district of Sughd region of Tajikistan anonymously told that during the autumn conscription campaign in 2020, after the end of the working day, he was taken by the raid. Due to medical condition, he had the right to defer from military service, but despite this, he was taken from his work in Khujand to the district military registration office, which is located in Buston, regional centre, 50 km from Khujand. After confirming the presence of medical condition on the certificates and documents, the officers released him. However, they did not apologize, but also put him in an uncomfortable situation.
“When they suddenly took me away, I did not even have time to take my wallet. They allowed me to leave only after 12 AM. The problem was that I lived in Khujand then. When I asked them to take me back to Khujand, they said that my house was in Mastchoh and I had to walk there! At night, without any money, I had very difficult time getting to Khujand,” he said.
Video recording of a raid during the spring conscription campaign
The observations show that during last year’s spring military conscription campaign, the number of citizens’ complaints about the raids has sharply increased. Zafarobod district resident anonymously told that her son, a graduate of a medical university, was taken to military service by force. She says that the university, where her son studied medicine for seven years, has a reserve-officer training department, and her son had a military rank after graduation. After graduating from the medical university, her son worked as a doctor at the Central Hospital of Zafarobod distcrict.
“When the coronavirus was detected here, my son was treating people in the district’s Central Hospital and was in quarantine for 14 days. He was released from quarantine 2 days earlier, and he came home to rest for a day. Next day, a man in military uniform came, asked my son’s name, and took him away. I assumed that someone got sick, and my son was taken to treat that person. That was the period of the coronavirus outbreak and there was a need for doctors. I waited until 12 AM, but there was no news from him. He did not come back even after three days! Later, when I went to the district military registration office and asked about my son, they told me that they sent him to the army and he would serve for a year,” she said.
According to this woman, she never received a single summons from the military registration office. However, when she asked at the military registration office why her son, who had a military ID, was conscripted into the army, she was replied that her son was evading military service. She wonders how a young man with a military ID can be drafted into the army and accused of “evading the service”.
Muzaffar Babajanov, chairman of the Union of Soldiers’ Parents of Sughd region, who is actively involved in the protection of the rights of conscripts and soldiers, said that in 2019 and 2020, there were cases when the relatives of young men caught in the raids filed complaints with the authorities.
Babajanov added that the employees of the military registration offices put pressure on those who filed a complaint.
“First, compared to previous years, the number of raids decreased. Second, the number of complaints also decreased. Why? Because people do not believe that this problem can be solved, the citizens do not know where to address. Third, they wonder who is going to be caught in raids if not their children. About 90% of them evade the military service. They know their children are guilty of evading the service, so they do not pay special attention to this problem,” says Muzaffar Babajanov.
Disciplinary Action
In the beginning of February 2020, the head of the Republican Conscription Commission Azim Ibrahim (currently, the Minister of Transport) held a meeting on the results of the work of city and district military registration offices during the autumn conscription campaign of 2019, and 34 employees of military registration offices were subject to disciplinary action, some were dismissed.
During the meeting, Azim Ibrahim stated that six chief enlistment officers from Sughd and Khatlon regions, the cities of Dushanbe and Vahdat, Shohmansur and Shugnan districts were dismissed due to serious violations in their work and for other reasons.
Considering the conducted analysis, the Deputy Prime Minister of the country assessed the work of the military registration offices of cities and regions during the autumn conscription campaign of 2019 as “insufficient”.
“Despite the early implementation of the military conscription plan in autumn, the methods, tools and quality of the work did not meet the requirements,” he highlighted.
At the same time, Azim Ibrahim criticized the work of medical commissions, and called the raids an unacceptable practice.
Muzaffar Babajanov, chairman of the Union of Soldiers’ Parents of Sughd region, who is actively involved in the protection of the rights of conscripts and soldiers, said that one of the main reasons for the sudden dismissal of several military officers and the imposition of disciplinary action was the large number of complaints about the “illegal conscription of young men”. He notes that the raids are held throughout the country, and the use of illegal conscription methods by military officers played a key role in their dismissal.
We addressed the Ministry of Defense to receive answers about the conscription campaigns and the problems during these periods. In our letter, we also asked that someone from the Ministry, responsible for conscription of citizens into military service, speak with us. The Ministry of Defense did not provide specific information, and no one agreed to speak with us.
Human Rights Activists: the Number of Raids Increases
The human rights activists of the country constantly criticize the raids as a method of conscripting young people into military service.
Muzaffar Babajanov says that although there is no definition of a “raid” in the Tajik legislation, this method of drafting young people to the military is still used, and this demotivates young people who have not served.
“Such raids are practiced in Tajikistan. Last year, our organisation collected more than 20 materials from Facebook and other social media, and sent them to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Minister of Defense. I believe that one of the reasons for the dismissal of these six military officers is our complaint,” the expert said.
According to Babajanov, the use of raids during conscription campaigns discredits the country and its Armed Forces. Since a young man, who may have thought about going into the army himself, or his parents, who thought about voluntarily sending their son to military service, after watching the events during the raids, wonder – if their children are treated so bad even before the army, how will they be treated during the military service?
Dilrabo Samadova, the head of the Office of Civil Freedoms public organisation, which provides legal assistance to conscripts and their families since 2006, believes that in recent years, the tendency of using the illegal methods of conscription of young people into military service has intensified.
“After 2017 – in 2018, 2019 and in 2020, the number of cases of conscription during the raids has increased. The citizens even shoot the videos and share on social media the events that look like kidnapping of young men by people in civilian clothes, whose actions do not comply with the legislation. We collect such materials and send them to the appropriate departments for action. During each conscription period, we collect at least 10-12 videos and send them to the appropriate authorities,” she added.
Samadova said that there were cases during the conscription campaigns in Tajikistan when the number of raids decreased only after the President’s direct intervention.
She also added that the majority of residents of large and densely populated districts and cities (Dushanbe, Khujand, Bokhtar, Isfara, Konibodom, Ghafurov district) complain about the raids.
https://infogram.com/poll-raid-1hdw2jplmm9dp2l?live
On February 22, 2020, the President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, speaking on the 27th Anniversary of the Armed Forces, also expressed concern about communication in the military service, irresponsibility and negligence in the line of duty.
General Prosecutor’s Office Response
While people complain about violations of the rights of young people during the recruiting campaigns, we officially addressed the Deputy General Prosecutor, Chief Military Prosecutor of the Republic of Tajikistan Mirzozoda Safarali Rahim to clarify the position of the Prosecutor’s Office. In response to our letter, the Military Prosecutor of Tajikistan stated that in order to prevent, identify and eliminate violations, in particular, cases of conscription and mobilisation of youth in raids, an annual monitoring of the compliance with the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan “On Compulsory Military Responsibilities and Military Service” and the President’s orders is carried out. The Military Prosecutor’s Office refused to provide information on raids on young people during this spring conscription campaign, referring to the “confidentiality of statistical reports and the defense importance of this legislation”. Our question about the number of citizens’ addresses and complaints about the raids over the past 5 years was ignored.
A Member of Parliament Also Complains about Conscription Methods
A Member of Parliament Saidjafar Usmonzoda says that he also witnessed cases of forcible conscription of young people into the army, and believes that it is necessary to take measures as soon as possible. He said that the current benefits for soldiers are inadequate and need to be revised.
Currently, the country’s legislation provides for some benefits for young people who have served in the army, but these benefits are not enough to live on. The National Testing Centre of Tajikistan provides 75 additional points for candidates enrolling at universities who have served in the army.
The Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of the Population of Tajikistan reported that young men who have served in the army receive the benefits of 400 somoni during three months and, if possible, are provided with work. However, several young people we spoke with said they were unaware of the existence of such support.
Orif Nozimi, spokesman for the Defense Ministry of Tajikistan, told RFE/RL Tajik Service that soldiers finishing their service also have privileges in the military units. According to him, young people can serve in the army for a year and a half, and for the remaining six months, they can study any profession at the training centre of the Ministry of Defense. The centre offers more than 10 courses in such professions as driver, welder, electrical specialist, and cook. After the completion of the course, soldiers receive certificates.
Previous Problems of the Army Are Not Solved
The experts believe that one of the main reasons of young people’s reluctance to serve in the army is ‘dedovschina’ [the abuse of new conscripts by older soldiers].
A private Sirojidinov Rustam Nabijonovich was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 373 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, and sentenced to one year of imprisonment by the decision of the Dushanbe Garrison Court for beating and inflicting bodily harm on his fellow soldier Kurbanov Shokir Ahmadovich.
According to the analysis, not only the older soldiers, but also the officers abuse the recruits. According to the Dushanbe Garrison Court (archive), several cases of beating of soldiers by a warrant officer Kamarov Talabshoh Shamsuddinovich were revealed.
By the decision of the Dushanbe Garrison Court of September 30, 2019, Kamarov Talabshoh Shamsuddinovich was found guilty under Part 1 of Article 391 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, and, under the Article 63 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, was sentenced to a fine of 100 indicators for calculation (5500 somoni or about $486) without deprivation of the right to hold certain positions.
“A sergeant is in charge instead of the officer in such cases. When the officer arrives the next day and sees that his orders are implemented, he expresses his respect to the sergeant. Therefore, the officer can forgive the sergeant for some failures and ‘dedovschina’. When he forgives the minor violations, the sergeant can commit even worse ones. Therefore, the communication between sergeants, officers and soldiers should be within the scope of the charter. If it is violated, it leads to the acts of violence, which can lead to the death of a soldier,” Babajanov notes.
Pay a Fee and Do Not Serve
There are many cases of corruption crimes committed by employees of the military registration offices, other departments and medical commissions associated with the promises to issue fake military IDs. On the official website of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, you can find many reports (archive) on such cases. According to the Agency, during 2015-2019, there were 62 corruption crimes related to the deferral of citizens from the military service.
The head of the military registration office of the Rudaki district of Dushanbe Faizidin Karimov, and Rustam Buydakov, a driver in the Sultonobod jamoat of Rudaki district, were recently arrested for committing corruption crimes. According to the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption (archive), in February 2020, they demanded 8,000 somoni (about $700) for the preparation of a military ID for the brother of a citizen “A”, and issued a fake military ID declaring “unfitness for military service”.
The Agency’s report says, “In addition, in June 2020, R.A. Buydakov and F.R. Karimov issued a fake military ID for a citizen “B” declaring “unfitness for military service”.
“The majority of these crimes were committed in Dushanbe, Sughd and Khatlon regions, as well as in Districts of Republican Subordination,” the Agency responded. The response also notes that a preliminary investigation or trial is ongoing for the crimes identified in the first four months of 2020.
Despite the authorities’ statements about compliance with the legislation during the conscription campaign, our investigation once again proves that the raids are continuing, thereby violating the rights of citizens of draft age and even those, who have already served in the army.
This article was prepared as part of the Giving Voice, Driving Change – from the Borderland to the Steppes Project.