Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Izzat Amon under the provision of only one article of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – fraud, Azzat Amon’s defense lawyer Saidburhon Sharipov told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, his client pled guilty to four of five complaints filed against him.   “We will try to get the case to be considered under the 2019 amnesty and be dropped,” the lawyer noted.   

“In accordance with the law on 2019 amensty, if the damage caused as a result of crimes is compensated, an amnesty will be applied to the detainee,” Sharipov said.   

Since the facts, about which complaints were filed against my client, were committed before 2019, the 2019 amnesty must be applied to him,”  Sharipov added. 

Recall, Russian authorities on March 25 detained Amon and forcibly returned him to Tajikistan, where he faces charges of fraud in connection to his work in Moscow.

Tajik law enforcement authorities accuse Izzat Amon of a large-scale fraud (Article 247 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).  According to a statement released by the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan, Izzat Amon has been deported from the Russian Federation for non-compliance with the rules of stay in the Russian Federation and illegal acquisition of Russian citizenship.

The statement, in particular, says that Izzat Amon (Izzat Kholov) has fraudulently appropriated large sums of money of dozens of people in Russia under the pretext of protecting the rights of citizens of Tajikistan and Tajik labor migrants working in the Russian Federation.

According to the website of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow, Izzat Amon (Izzat Kholov) is accused of violating Article 18.10. of Russia’s Administrative Code – illegal employment by a foreign citizen or a stateless person in the Russian Federation.  The court also deprived him of his Russian citizenship.