DUSHANBE, July 8, 2008, Asia-Plus — A court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district is expected to hand down ruling on a suit filed by an officially recognized leader of the Democratic Party (DPT), Masoud Sobirov, against Saidjaffar Ismonov on July 9.
Saidjaffar Ismonov told Asia-Plus Monday afternoon that the trial was adjourned on July 7 until July 9. According to him, the judge ordered the adjournment because representative of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had not attended the hearing.
“Although the judicial organs give assessment to legitimacy of our activity, however, legality of chairman of the party should be determined by party’s board,” said Ismonov. “Therefore, irrespective of decision of the court, we intend to initiate calling of the party congress.”
We will recall that the court case pitting Masoud Sobirov Saidjaffar Ismonov began on July 4. Masoud Sobirov is asking for 150,000 somonis in damages after Saidjaffar Ismonov introduced himself as the DPT leader. In the suit filed against Ismonov, Sobirov, in particular, noted that in an article published in the Dushanbe weekly
Farazh
last month, Ismonov introduced himself as chairman of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
The Democratic Party split after Sobirov formed a separate faction in April 2006, which the Ministry of Justice recognized as the official Democratic Party in October 2006, and at present there are three DPT factions run by Masoud Sobirov, Mahmadruzi Iskandarov and Saidjaffar Ismonov.
The party congress held by Ismonov’s supporters on January 14, 2007, charged Masoud Sobirov with inaction and removed him. They elected Ismonov as leader of the party. But the Ministry of Justice noted that the January 14 congress was held in violation of the party”s charter and Tajik law and denied a request by Saidjaffar Ismonov to be recognized as the leader of the Democratic Party.
