Tajikistan Creates Police Registry of Fortune-Tellers, Clients and Relatives

A police database reaches beyond fortune-tellers

Tajikistan's Ministry of Internal Affairs is creating a unified police database covering fortune-tellers, people offering sorcery and other occult services, sex workers, people with drug dependence, and some of their clients and relatives. The announcement, publicized on October 21, 2026, says people entered in the register will face constant monitoring, with their information passed to relevant authorities upon request.

The ministry describes the measure as an effort to prevent superstition, fortune-telling, sorcery and other forms of deception. Its reach extends beyond people accused of selling fraudulent services: customers, close relatives and associates can also come within its scope.

The announcement follows earlier action against both practitioners and customers. In 2024, the ministry announced plans to record clients of fortune-tellers and sorcerers, including their photographs. Fines for visiting practitioners followed in July 2025. The new database brings those efforts together with monitoring of several other groups.

Police figures indicate the scale of enforcement already taking place. The Interior Ministry recorded 604 cases involving fortune-telling and sorcery across Tajikistan in the first half of 2026. In Dushanbe, the capital's Interior Ministry department identified 93 fortune-telling cases during the same period and opened criminal cases against five people.

The immediate change for residents is therefore broader than a warning about buying a prediction or paying for a supposed spell. The ministry is also warning that contact with the people it lists can bring someone into a police record, extending the measure into customers' and families' daily lives.

Who can be entered in the register?

The ministry's list includes male and female fortune-tellers, sorcerers, itinerant figures it calls pseudo-mullahs, sex workers, their clients and close relatives, people with drug dependence, and others connected with similar activity. The original description also includes folk healers whose reputations authorities consider questionable, people involved in pimping or drug distribution, and close associates.

A mullah is a Muslim religious figure. By using the term pseudo-mullah, the authorities are referring to people they accuse of falsely presenting themselves as religious authorities. Other descriptions of the initiative include religious figures without relevant formal education.

The ministry's press service set out the categories and the intended monitoring in its announcement:

In order to prevent fortune-telling, sorcery and other fraudulent activities, the surnames and first names of fortune-tellers, sorcerers, itinerant pseudo-mullahs, prostitutes, their clients and close relatives, people with drug dependence, and other persons involved in similar activities are entered into a special database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These persons will be under constant monitoring.

The reference to clients and close relatives is especially consequential. It places people who seek services, and people connected through family relationships, within a register that also contains those accused of providing the services. The final category, others involved in similar activity, leaves the list open beyond the groups expressly named.

What constant monitoring means for residents

The Interior Ministry says law enforcement agencies will maintain ongoing oversight of people in the database. Information will be supplied to relevant government bodies when those bodies request it. The register therefore serves both as a police record and as a source of personal information for other authorities.

The ministry has also made avoidance part of its public message. Its press service urged residents to keep away from the listed groups, connecting the risk of police registration with damage to a person's standing within their family:

The Ministry of Internal Affairs urges citizens to stay away from the listed categories of persons so as not to end up on special registration lists and not to tarnish their name in the eyes of their own children.

For a customer, the warning means that paying a practitioner can lead to consequences beyond losing money on the service. For relatives and associates, it means that a relationship with someone listed may itself attract official attention. The announcement combines a policing measure with a public appeal based on reputation and family respect.

What the enforcement figures show

The Interior Ministry's national figure of 604 cases covers fortune-telling and sorcery detected during January through June 2026. Dushanbe's figure of 93 concerns fortune-telling cases identified by the capital's authorities over those six months.

Using those published totals, Dushanbe's 93 cases amount to about 15.4 percent of the national figure of 604. The national category includes both fortune-telling and sorcery, while the capital's figure is described specifically as fortune-telling. Both figures place the new registry within an enforcement campaign already operating before the October announcement.

Dushanbe authorities also said criminal cases had been opened against five people. A criminal case is an investigation and prosecution process in which authorities examine an alleged offense and may bring it before a court. Administrative proceedings generally deal with offenses through penalties such as fines, under a different legal process.

The distinction matters because the enforcement figures count different things: 93 instances of alleged activity and five people facing criminal cases. Residents can encounter several stages of state action, from inclusion in the database to an administrative penalty or a criminal investigation.

How the campaign developed

The October announcement follows a sequence of measures aimed at practitioners, customers and people claiming religious authority. The chronology shows how the campaign has expanded from recording clients to a unified register covering several categories.

• 2024: The Interior Ministry announced that clients of fortune-tellers and sorcerers would be recorded in a police file with photographs.
• July 2025: Fines began applying to visits to fortune-tellers.
• January through June 2026: Authorities recorded 604 cases involving fortune-telling and sorcery nationally. Dushanbe recorded 93 fortune-telling cases and criminal cases against five people.
• October 21, 2026: The unified database announcement was publicized, setting out monitoring of practitioners, clients, relatives and other listed groups.

The earlier client registration policy helps explain why customers feature prominently in the new announcement. Tajikistan's approach targets demand for these services as well as the people offering them. Including relatives and associates widens that approach further, bringing personal connections into the scope of police monitoring.

Fines, criminal penalties and proposed labor requirements

Reported administrative fines for the activities targeted by the campaign range from about $270 to $340. Repeat violations within a year can bring fines approaching $680. Customers of fortune-tellers and sorcerers can also face liability, making the decision to purchase a service legally consequential for both sides of the transaction.

The higher reported fine is twice the $340 upper figure for an initial violation. These dollar amounts are conversions used to describe the penalties, rather than the wording of a penalty stated in Tajikistan's currency.

Descriptions of the enforcement framework also include administrative arrest and possible criminal prosecution for a repeat offense within a year, with imprisonment of up to two years. Proposed changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses would permit compulsory labor for up to six months for sorcery, fortune-telling, folk healing and illegal religious instruction. Compulsory labor means work imposed as a legal punishment.

Several operational and legal details remain unclear: the announcement gives no total for people already registered, no rules for removing a name or challenging an entry, and no precise definition of constant monitoring. Descriptions of the six months of compulsory labor also vary between a proposed amendment and an available penalty; no adoption date or next legislative deadline is specified.

Religious activity and folk healing are also in scope

Tajik authorities are also acting against religious figures without relevant education and people described as having studied abroad under radical theologians. The registry announcement specifically names itinerant pseudo-mullahs, placing claims to religious authority alongside fortune-telling and other practices the ministry describes as deceptive.

Authorities have presented the campaign as a response to practices found across Tajikistan, including Dushanbe. The capital's enforcement figures show that the activity attracting police attention extends into the country's main urban center.

Folk healing appears in descriptions of both the register and the proposed labor penalties. The original account refers to healers whose reputations are considered questionable, while the proposed administrative changes name folk healing alongside sorcery, fortune-telling and illegal religious instruction.

The combined scope matters for people seeking help. A visit to someone offering a prediction, a supposed supernatural cure or religious guidance may involve categories that authorities are addressing through the same campaign. For practitioners, the policy brings claims about healing or religious authority into a framework of police registration and possible punishment.

A Russian lawmaker welcomes the approach

Vitaly Milonov, a member of Russia's State Duma, welcomed Tajikistan's initiative and said Russia could adopt a similar approach. His response gives the announcement a political audience beyond Tajikistan.

Milonov described the registry in approving terms:

A very good project.

The Russian lawmaker has previously advocated restrictions on esoteric services. In 2023, he proposed banning the publication of horoscopes and the sale of Tarot cards. In spring 2025, he said prosecutors should take action against fortune-tellers and people presenting themselves as magicians.

His endorsement connects Tajikistan's database with his existing campaign for stronger restrictions in Russia. In Tajikistan itself, the concrete development is the Interior Ministry's plan to collect names, monitor the listed people and share information with relevant authorities, extending an existing campaign against practitioners and customers to a wider circle of relatives and associates.

Key Points

• Tajikistan's Interior Ministry is creating a unified register covering fortune-tellers, sorcerers, sex workers, people with drug dependence and other named groups.
• Clients, close relatives and associates can also come within the scope of monitoring.
• The ministry says listed people will face constant monitoring and their information will be shared with relevant authorities upon request.
• Authorities recorded 604 cases involving fortune-telling and sorcery nationally in the first half of 2026. Dushanbe recorded 93 fortune-telling cases and criminal cases against five people.
• Customers can face penalties, while proposed administrative changes include compulsory labor for up to six months.
• The announcement leaves registration procedures, removal rules and the practical meaning of constant monitoring unclear.