DUSHANBE, March 13, 2015, Asia-Plus -- A prosecutor in the trial of two alleged members of an opposition organization Group 24 asked a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district on March 12 to sentence them to an 18-year prison term each.

Firdavs Muhiddinov, 25, and Farhod Karimov, 20, are on trial on charges of insulting the president, organizing an extremist group, organizing a criminal group, calling for extremist actions, and being members of the banned opposition movement Group 24.   

Meanwhile, Khurshed Zikirov, a defense lawyer for Farhod Karimov, told Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service yesterday that his client denies any association with the Group 24 organization and he owned only to keeping photos insulting the head of state in his computer.  

According to RFE/RL, Farhod Karimov was arrested last year after police searched his computer and found photos, which they said "insulted" Rahmon.

Fridvas Muhiddinov also denies any association with Group 24.

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports Muhiddinov was detained for appearing in an online video of a gathering by Tajik migrant workers in Russia, in which he called on President Emomali Rahmon to resign.

Parents of Firdavs Muhiddinov say their son was working in Russia and he participated only one time in a demonstration organized by Group 24 in Novosibirsk.  He was detained by Tajik law enforcement authorities after he returned to Tajikistan.

We will recall that the Ismoili Somoni district court sentenced Umedjon Solehov to 17½ years in prison on March 4 for insulting the president, calling for extremist actions, and being a member of the banned opposition movement Group 24.  The court also ruled that Umedjon Solehov cannot be involved in any business activities for five years after completing his jail term.

Solehov was arrested in October last year after he was seen in an online video of a gathering by Tajik migrant workers in Russia, calling on Tajik President Emomali Rahmon to resign.

Solehov, however, insisted that he had never been a member of Group 24.

The Group 24 organization was banned in October, when the government labeled it as an extremist group. Its founder Umarali Quvvatov was shot dead by an unknown assailant in Istanbul, Turkey on March 5.