Tajik President Agrees to Consider Return of About 200 Women Serving Time in Russia

Tajik families and rights officials welcomed a positive reply from President Emomali Rahmon after Moscow’s human rights commissioner asked that roughly 200 Tajik women now jailed in Russia be allowed to finish their terms back home on humanitarian grounds. Tatyana Moskalkova said she raised the issue formally with Dushanbe, citing limits on contact with relatives and other hardships faced by foreign inmates as key reasons for the request.

Moskalkova, speaking with Russian media, argued that while many of the convictions are upheld, punishment should sometimes be tempered to promote rehabilitation. "At times, less severe measures can help a person rebuild and return to society," she said in a re-created exchange with reporters, adding that officers in her office are looking for legal bases to support transfers, particularly in cases involving women.

Advocates and officials have pointed to practical obstacles for women detained abroad: rare family visits, delays or refusals of packages, and emotional strain linked to long separations. A Tajik legal scholar who reviewed the proposal told this paper that transfers could restore family ties and make oversight of parole or social support easier once prisoners are back in Tajikistan, though she cautioned that logistics and paperwork will take time to sort out.

Moskalkova also framed the push within a broader set of changes to Russia’s penal approach through 2030, noting recent laws that curb pretrial detention for women with small children and routine requests she has made for judges to postpone or alter sentences for mothers. She said courts have often responded favorably when cases involve children under 14, a trend she described as encouraging.

The commissioner earlier indicated Russia was prepared to assist in sending more than three thousand Uzbek nationals convicted on its soil to serve sentences in Uzbekistan, but she warned that legal barriers have blocked that process. Moscow has pointed to the need for partner countries to ratify international instruments such as the 1998 convention on transfer of sentenced persons before mass moves can proceed.

If Dushanbe now moves to formalize transfers, officials here expect a period of negotiations on legal terms, transport, and supervision once the women return. Local aid groups say successful reintegration will hinge on coordinated social services and monitoring, and they urged both governments to move quickly so families aren’t left waiting.