DUSHANBE, December 5, 2013, Asia-Plus – A prosecutor in the trial of Tajik known businessman Zayd Saidov asked the court on December 5 to sentence Zayd Saidov to a 28-year prison term, one of Zayd Saidov’s defense lawyers, Shuhrat Qudratov, told Asia-Plus Thursday afternoon.

According to him, the judge ordered the adjournment until Friday morning.  “Witnesses will be heard tomorrow morning and the defense will deliver a statement next week, and only after that the defendant will make the last plea,” the lawyer noted.  

We will recall that Zayd Saidov went on trial in Dushanbe on September 12.  The trail is being held in the pretrial detention facility of the State Committee for national Security (SCNS) behind closed doors.

Zayd Saidov, who is the leader of Tajikistan''s unregistered New Tajikistan party, was arrested on May 19 and charged with bribe-taking (Article 319 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), abuse of office (Article 314), financial fraud (Article 247), extortion (Article 250), polygamy (Article 170), rape (Article 138) and sexual relations with a minor (Article 125).