It's a long way off to closely watch a likely predictable election, but here are some key things to keep tabs on.

Witness the Tajik nepotocracy at work.

On January 24, 2019, Tajik lawyer Buzurgmehr Yorov will have been in prison for 1,215 days for simply doing his job.

Khayrullo Mirsaidov, authorities claim, breached a court order by seeing medical treatment abroad.

So, how does a 10-year-old end up on a list of wanted persons? In Tajikistan, by relation to an exiled dissident.

Dushanbe has essentially called the video reportedly showing the attackers pledging allegiance to the Islamic State a false flag.

How a 4-year-old child became a hostage in Tajikistan’s battles against the exiled opposition.

The details of Dushanbe’s human rights violations tell the story of a state afraid of its own people but not of international law.

Bad governance structures and rampant corruption underpin a system that lacks justice.

Mirzorakhim Kuzov had been detained in Greece after Tajikistan submitted an Interpol red notice against him.

Not quite.

Better to hire a Rahmon, than anger one.

Dushanbe is always watching.

"So much has gone awry that most... produce little more than puzzled expressions when asked who is to blame."

In 2016, 830 Tajik citizens applied for asylum at the Polish border -- up from just 105 in 2014.

“Do people know what the laws are? If not, do the laws matter?”