DUSHANBE, July 21, 2015, Asia-Plus – A court in the Hisor district sentenced the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) activist Jaloliddin Mahmoudov, who was the member of the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER) from the IRP, to five years in prison on July 20.

Ms. Zarafo Rahmoni, a lawyer representing Mahmoudov, says the sentence followed his conviction on charges of illegally acquiring and possessing weapons (Article 195 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).

Mahmoudov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.

We will recall that a prosecutor in the trial of Jaloliddin Mahmoudov asked the Hisor district court to sentence Mahmoudov to a 6½ - year prison term.

Jaloliddin Mahmoudov’s case moved to the Supreme Court of Tajikistan on June 11 but the Supreme Court sent it for consideration to the Hisor district court on June 17.

Chairman of the Hisor district court, Isroil Mirzozoda, presided over the trial.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Jaloliddin Mahmoudov under the provisions of Article 195 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code -- illegally bearing, possessing, acquiring, storing and transporting weapons.

Jaloliddin Mahmoudov was detained on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons on February 10 this year.

The State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said on February 11 that Jaloliddin Mahmoudov was detained in Dushanbe.

The SCNS said in a statement that police found two Makarov pistols, 51 bullets and a grenade fuse in the home of Latif Sardorov, resident of the village of Chuquraki Bolo in the Hisor district.

Sardorov reportedly said that the pistols and ammunition belong to Jaloliddin Mahmoudov, who gave them to him in 1996 and asked Sardorov to keep them for him.