DUSHANBE, April 30, 2014, Asia-Plus – The appeal court of the Dushanbe city court has upheld judgment filed by a court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district against newspaper
Asia-Plus
and its editor Olga Tutubalina.
The appeal court of the Dushanbe city court concluded consideration of the appeal filed by newspaper
Asia-Plus
on April 30 and rejected it.
Newspaper’s defense lawyers denounced the ruling and vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Republic of Tajikistan.
Lawyers representing the newspaper and Olga Tutubalina filed the appeal in the Dushanbe city court on March 18. According to them, the judgment filed by the Firdavsi district court is illegal and unfounded.
We will recall that the Firdavsi district court that considered a case pitting five Tajik creating unions and three separate individuals (D. Abdiyeva, A. Rajabov and H. Rahmatov) against the
Asia-Plus
newspaper and its editor, Ms. Olga Tutubalina, ruled on February 25 that the newspaper and its editor must publish a disclaimer and pay 30,000 somoni to D. Abdiyeva, A. Rajabov and H. Rahmatov.
Five Tajik creative unions and thee separate individuals have filed a lawsuit against the
Asia-Plus
newspaper and its editor Olga Tutubalina, asking for 200,000 somoni as compensation for moral damage.
The case stems from the article “Unintelligent about Intelligentsia” by Olga Tutubalina published in the newspaper on May 29, 2013. In her article about Tajik intelligentsia, Ms. Tutubalina used citation from Lenin’s letter to Maxim Gorky of September 15, 1919, “The intellectual forces of the workers and peasants are growing and getting stronger in their fight to overthrow the bourgeoisie and their accomplices, the educated classes, the lackeys of capital, who consider themselves the brains of the nation. In fact they are not its brains but its shit.”
Plaintiffs say the article by Olga Tutubalina insulted honor and dignity as well as reputation of a large social group of people and caused moral damage to them.
For her part, Ms. Tutubalina said that she did not mean to insult anyone. At the same time, she insisted she had nothing to apologize for.
The United States Embassy in Dushanbe issued a statement expressing concern over the verdict which it said would have “a chilling effect on freedom of the press in Tajikistan.”
The OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Ms. Dunja Mijatović, also criticized the decision, particularly the idea that an ill-defined body of people can be collectively defamed.
“If those who can claim injury are not clearly defined, any disagreement of opinion could end up as a damage claim,” she said in a statement, urging the Tajik authorities to allow “public debate without triggering financial penalties.”
