Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon appears to be losing common ground with Moscow, as Russian president Dmitry Medvedev set aside joint agreements on the Roghun hydro-electric power plant. Tajik authorities perceive the Roghun project as a necessity and apply all means necessary to have it accomplished, but so far to no avail. Also, Rakhmon sought financial support from the EU and returned with promising agreements on multi-dimensional cooperation. Yet, the overwhelming spotlight on the nation’s father figure left other, internal issues unresolved.

The latest property dispute over the closure of the Zarnisor market is a reminder to the citizens that “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Despite being underreported, property deprivations remain amid the most discussed issues in Dushanbe nowadays.

In brief, Deputy Prosecutor S. Sirojzoda filed a court case against the legalization of the Zarnisor market before the Economic Court of Dushanbe. Notably, Sirojzoda filed the claim while acting as Public Prosecutor, since the head of the Office was on leave. The Court upheld the claim of the plaintiff, despite the official response of the returned Prosecutor that the property’s registration had been conducted in accordance with the state legislature.

“… Police appeared in September, encircled the market and allowed no one in,” said a market trader. “… Previously, I worked in the 82 mikrorayon market, we were driven out the same way and then the Profsoyuz place was closed as well, this is the third market we are expelled from.”

However, the point to be made has little to do with illegal prosecution. For years, the issue of property deprivation has caused significant job losses in the country. Zarnisor alone could have created five hundred jobs – not insignificant in light of the ongoing crisis. Moreover, the rate of remittances from labor migrants is expected to decline sharply over the coming years due to the slipping Russian economy, which has an unemployment figure of six million people. The unwillingness of the government to promote small business may prove to be a fatal mistake.

Local markets in Dushanbe remain an alternative for individuals to earn income within the country and may serve as an option for guest workers who failed to find jobs in Russia. Unfortunate migrants are likely to largely seek to return to Tajikistan to make a living, with the authorities seeking to prevent them from doing so. An inability and reluctance to meet the demands of what is the largest able-bodied part of the population will inevitably create discontent among the masses, causing irretrievable damage to the country.

Moreover, not only has entrepreneurship been hard-hit, so has the local intelligentsia. A renowned professor of International Relations at the Russian-Tajik Slavic University, Guzel Maitdinova, was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison on fabricated charges of assaulting a police officer, when she refused to leave her property during an unsanctioned eviction. The Dushanbe city administration decided on the destruction of the professor’s house without any prior notification of the owner, thus contradicting the relevant Civil Code provision. Following the disagreement, Maitdinova filed an appeal to the District Court of Somoni rayon, and a senior deputy to the prosecutor requested the appeal to be sustained. The District Court, however, decided to dismiss it. Through resisting the Court decision further, the scholar was deprived of her property rights by force and sent to jail.

The epidemic rise of property assaults has also taken a religious turn, as the hundred-year old synagogue belonging to the local Jewish community was demolished in a matter of hours. The decision on the destruction of the synagogue was seen as inevitable as a US$300 million project of the “House of Nations” was scheduled to be built in the same area, and was a far higher priority for the local authorities.

The logic behind the expulsions is quite simple. The position of any appointed politician is extremely fragile at any time in Tajikistan. So, from the moment of obtaining a seat in a ministry or local governance, decision-makers take advantage of their positions to accumulate maximum profit while in office. The Zarnisor case is the most revealing to date, and previous examples also hint at the self-enrichment factor as a driving force behind the decisions. It is commonly believed that Maitdinova’s trial sets a serious precedent for further eviction practices in the center of the city, where the scholar resided for over fifteen years. Not surprisingly, the location of the synagogue is very close to Maitdinova’s former residence.