Lawyer Shortage in Remote Tajik Province

Since the only law firm closed three years ago, the vast and remote region of Badakhshan in southeast Tajikistan has had virtually no lawyers.

People have two choices – either to represent themselves in court, or make the long and arduous trip to find a lawyer based in another part of Tajikistan.

The chief justice in Badakhshan, Judge Shohmusalam Saidmusalamov, says the courts are forced to allow unlicensed legal practitioners to represent clients in both criminal and civil cases.

Manuchehr Khaliknazarov, head of the regional branch of Tajikistan Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, says his group is swamped with applications for advice and assistance. He would like the handful of lawyers in Badakhshan come together in a formal association as a way of pooling what scant legal resources there are.

This audio programme, in Russian and Tajik, went out on national radio stations in Tajikistan, as part of IWPR project work funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.