AKIPRESS.COM - Freedom House issued a statement in response to the detention of Tajikistani researcher Alexander Sodikov by the State Committee for National Security on charges of espionage.

“The Government of Tajikistan needs to release information to Sodikov's family and his colleagues about where he is being held and in what conditions,” President of Freedom House David Kramer stressed.

Sodikov also should be given “access to a lawyer of his own choosing immediately. Right now this detention is looking more like a disappearance.”

The man was detained on June 16 in the eastern city of Khorog, where he was reportedly conducting an academic research for a University of Exeter research project.

The National Security Committee accused Sodikov of espionage on behalf of an unidentified foreign government. Since his detention, his family has received only one phone call from him on June 16.

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