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Lawyers Hope To Meet Detained Tajik Researcher


Lawyers for detained Tajik researcher Aleksandr Sodikov say they have been granted permission to meet with their client for the first time since his arrest.

Abdulkayum Yusufi told RFE/RL that he and his colleague, Hasan Kavrakov, have been told that they will be granted access to Sodikov on July 3.

The two lawyers have been hired by Sodikov's family. Sodikov's former lawyer, who was appointed by the authorities, met him only once after his arrest last month.

Sodikov, 31, a Tajik national residing in Canada, was detained in Tajikistan's southern city of Khorugh on June 16, shortly after speaking with civil society activists there.

He was later charged with high treason and spying.

Sodikov said he had been touring Central Asia as part of his doctoral research at Britain’s University of Exeter and the University of Toronto.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

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