DUSHANBE -- Russian officials detained five residents of the village of Yazgulom in the volatile Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region and extradited them to Tajikistan last week, where they were charged with "membership in an extremist organization," a source close to Tajik law enforcement told RFE/RL on June 17.
RFE/RL has chosen not to disclose the names of the five, who were arrested in Russia in late May. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.
On May 16, Tajik security forces arrested more than 30 residents of Yazgulom, accusing them of plotting unspecified sabotage.
Sources told RFE/RL at the time that those arrested were suspected of having links with "extremist groups" in neighboring Afghanistan.
There were no details regarding the arrests in Yazgulom and the deportation of the five Tajiks from Russia as neither officials nor relatives of the detained individuals agreed to talk to RFE/RL.
Residents of Gorno-Badakhshan have been under pressure for years. A crackdown on the restive region intensified in 2022 after mass protests in May that year were violently dispersed by police and security forces.
SEE ALSO: Hollow Visit: Gorno-Badakhshan Not In Welcoming Mood For Tajik President On First Visit Since Bloody ClampdownTajik authorities said at the time that 10 people were killed and 27 injured during the clashes between protesters and police.
Residents of the remote region's Rushon district, however, have told RFE/RL that 21 bodies were found at the sites of the clashes.
Dozens of the region's residents have been handed lengthy prison terms on terrorism and extremism charges since then.
Deep tensions between the government and residents of the volatile region have simmered ever since a five-year civil war broke out shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Still, protests are rare in the tightly controlled nation of 9.5 million where President Emomali Rahmon has ruled with an iron fist for nearly three decades.