RELEASE OF DISSIDENT TAJIK JOURNALIST SEEN AS WARNING TO TAJIKISTAN

By Safa Haeri in Paris with reports from Parviz Mardani in Bonn

MOSCOW 14 July (IPS)          The surprise release from detention of Dadajan Ata’olayev, a dissident Tajik journalist by Russian authorities is interpreted in Moscow as a prove that “Kremlin,s patience with both the Tajik authorities and some top Russian officers serving in this country is reaching its limits”.

Mr. Ata’ollayev was arrested by Russian police last week on his arrival in Moscow, on his route from Germany to Tashkent to attend an international conference and taken to prison, waiting extradition to the Doshanbeh, where he is wanted on charges of insulting President Emam’ali Rahmanov and activities against the security of the State.

Sources said Mr. Dadajan’s arrest took place in the framework of a recent accord signed in Peking two weeks ago between leaders of China, Russia and several Central Asian nations known as the “Shanghai Five” aimed at fighting terrorism.

But he was released after three days and allowed to go back to Germany, where he lives.

A spokesman for Rusian President Vladimir Putin explained that Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov had found no grounds to extradite the outspoken dissident journalist to Tajikistan, where he could face death.

Those who had criticised Ata’olayev’s detention immediately hailed the decision.

''The accusations against Dadadjan Ata’olayev from the Tajik authorities were totally without basis. All he has done is his work as a good journalist'', Mr. Jean Christophe Menet, Europe co-ordinator of the Paris-based press watchdog told Reuters news agency by telephone. ''If he were extradited he would have been in extreme danger'', said Mr. Jean Christophe Menet, the European Co-ordinator for the Paris-based press watch dog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF)

Though the Editor of the Moscow-based “Cheraq Rooz” (Light of the Day) again attributed his unexpected freedom to “great political pressures” from international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and RSF and personalities like Mr. Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, yet informed sources in Moscow saw it as a warning addressed by Mr. Putin to Tajik authorities if not Mr. Rahmanov himself and some Russian senior officers believed to be involved in drug smuggling operations.

The borders between Tajikistan, located on the former Soviet Union's border with Afghanistan, are guarded by Russian troops.

Confirming revelations made by Mr. Dadajan in his newspaper, a Russian expert said some 60 tons of heroin are smuggled annually from Tajikistan, profiting mostly to some top ranking Tajik officials around president Rahmanov and 20 t0 30 Russian officers, making tens of thousands dollars, according to “The Independent” of London.

The case did not mark the first time Moscow has apparently backed off from handing over an opposition journalist at the request of a Central Asian government.

In 1997, Russian police detained Uzbek opposition journalist Albert Musin and said they would deport him to Uzbekistan, where he faced sedition charges. After an outcry by human rights groups, Uzbekistan said it was not seeking his extradition. DADAJAN 14701