An MMA fighter who was deported back to his native Tajikistan from the Russian Federation has been jailed for protesting the treatment of a local minority group.
Chorshanbe Chorshanbiev, a middleweight fighter with a 6-3 professional record, was handed an eight-year jail sentence by the High Court of the Ismoili Somoni district in Dushanbe on charges of “inciting ethnic, racial, or religious hatred” as well as “public calls for violent change of the constitutional order.”
According to the Prosecutor General’s office, Chorshanbiev allegedly published “provocative” social media posts and was “engaged in inciting national and regional hatred,” as well as “inciting riots.