On November 6, Constitution Day of the Republic of Tajikistan, we, the Movement for Reforms and Development of Tajikistan, declare that the regime of Emomali Rahmon has deliberately and systematically destroyed the constitutional order of the country, transforming the Fundamental Law into an instrument of personal dictatorship. The constitutional amendments of 1999, 2003, and especially the Law on the “Leader of the Nation” of November 14, 2016, which abolished presidential term limits and enshrined lifetime rule, constitute acts of usurpation of the people’s authority and a de facto coup d’état in legal form. These changes grossly violated Article 1 (on the democratic state), Article 6 (on the prohibition of power usurpation), Articles 9 and 10 (on the separation of powers and the supremacy of the Constitution), Article 17 (on the equality of citizens), and Article 65 (on presidential terms), thereby depriving the people of Tajikistan of their constitutional sovereignty and the right to change power through legitimate means. The Law on the “Leader of the Nation” rendered the Constitution a meaningless document, placing one man above the law and the state itself.
The Rahmon regime has dismantled the Constitution as a social contract and replaced it with a personalized system of hereditary autocracy based on familial control over the judiciary, parliament, security apparatus, civil service, and national resources. Power in Tajikistan is concentrated in the hands of a single family and a narrow elite circle, in direct contradiction to the fundamental principle of citizens’ equality and in complete violation of the system of checks and balances. Consequently, the constitutional order has been destroyed, and state institutions have lost their independence, becoming instruments for the political and economic protection of the ruling family’s private interests.
This system flagrantly violates Tajikistan’s international obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption, all of which require political pluralism, freedom of expression, the alternation of power, and accountability of state authorities.
The 2016 constitutional amendments and the Law on Advocacy deprived more than 1,000 independent lawyers of their licenses and subordinated the entire bar to state control, effectively abolishing citizens’ right to legal defense. At the same time, the Rahmon regime eliminated political opposition and independent media, conducts mass arrests and extrajudicial detentions, and persecutes critics both domestically and abroad. Documented cases include the killings of opposition leaders, journalists, religious figures, and activists; enforced disappearances; torture; and deaths in custody. More than 8,500 innocent political prisoners remain incarcerated, while in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, mass shootings of civilians, ethnic persecution, and punitive operations have been carried out. These actions are systemic in nature and bear the hallmarks of crimes against humanity.
Accordingly, the current regime does not constitute the legitimate government of the Republic of Tajikistan. It represents an anti-constitutional, usurped, criminal, and family–clan oligarchic system of personal rule that operates outside the framework of both national and international law. The people of Tajikistan have never granted a mandate for lifetime rule or hereditary succession, and Rahmon’s so-called “modern Constitution” is not a social contract but a political shield for personal power. These unlawful provisions and decisions shall lose their validity upon the restoration of constitutional order, popular sovereignty, and the rule of law in Tajikistan.
We call upon international organizations, the governments of democratic states, and all forces that uphold the rule of law to support the people of Tajikistan in defending their constitutional rights, securing the release of political prisoners, and restoring democratic and constitutional governance.
Sharofiddin Gadoev
Chairman of the Movement for Reforms and Development of Tajikistan
Amsterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands
November 6, 2025
