Trafficking Ringleader Arrested Thanks to Investigative Report

Prosecutors in Tajikistan reopened a criminal investigation into a local trafficking ring after the broadcast of an investigative television documentary supported by IREX. The ring had been luring young men to Russia, where they were kept as virtual slave laborers. The alleged ringleader, who had been previously arrested but released, was rearrested thanks to the crusading work of the journalist, Adiba Umarova.

The men thought they were going to Russia to earn legitimate wages to send back to their families in this poverty-stricken area of Tajikistan. However, upon arrival in Moscow, their passports were stolen and they were forced to work in a landfill site. They were told by their new masters that they had to pay back the debts incurred by their transportation. They were not given promised accommodation, were forced to scavenge for food, and were regularly beaten.

The men managed to escape and launched a campaign with their families to bring the ringleaders to justice. The scam’s local organizer was initially arrested but subsequently released. Questions were met with a wall of silence from the police and prosecutor’s office, leading the victims to believe that corruption was at play.

Reporter Adiba Umarova, working with IREX Broadcast Adviser Russell Peasgood, made a short documentary to highlight the case. Victims gave graphic accounts of the appalling conditions they endured and their anger that justice had not been done. When Umarova tried to interview the Chief of Police in Isfara, she was told to leave the police station. Requests to interview the Chief Prosecutor in Isfara were also turned down repeatedly.

Undeterred, the reporter requested an interview with the prosecutor in the regional capital, Khujand. As a result of the reporter’s persistence, the Deputy Regional Prosecutor revealed in an interview for the documentary that the alleged local organiser had been rearrested and the investigation had been reopened.

Production of the documentary was the culmination of the Eurasia Professional Exchanges and Training Program for Tajikistan, a year-long anti-trafficking training program for media professionals funded by the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and implemented by IREX.