Buzurgmehr Yorov information

Buzurgmehr Yorov (Russian: Бузургмехр Ёров, Tajik: Бузургмеҳр Ёров; 9 July 1971) is a Tajik human rights lawyer and member of the opposition Social Democratic Party of Tajikistan. Throughout the 2000s, serving as the head of the legal firm Sipar, Yorov was involved in a number of high-profile legal cases, representing individuals prosecuted by the government of Tajikistan on charges deemed politically motivated.^[1] In 2011, he represented prominent religious figure and former senator Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda when the latter sued the head of the state-backed Council of Ulems (Islamic scholars) for defamation.^[2] The case occurred amidst a government-led crackdown against the Turajonzoda brothers who frequently criticized the state religion policy. In 2013, Yorov represented Muhiddin Kabiri, the leader of the Islamic Revival Party and member of the country's parliament who had been sued by the Dushanbe Mayor's Office for criticizing the practice of massive cutting of trees in the capital.^[2] In 2014, Yorov represented Fakhriddin Zokirov, another Tajik lawyer who had been arrested on forgery charges, apparently as a retaliation for representing Zayd Saidov, a businessman and politician.^[3][4] He also offered to represent Alexander Sodiqov, a Canada-based PhD student who had been detained by the authorities and charged with spying and treason while conducting research in Tajikistan in June 2014. Sodiqov's family declined the offer, fearing that the outspoken lawyer's affiliation with an opposition party might politicize the case.^[5]