DUSHANBE, July 7, 2008, Asia-Plus — A court case pitting an officially recognized leader of the Democratic Party (DPT), Masoud Sobirov, against Saidjaffar Ismonov, leader of one of three wings of the DPT, began in the court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district 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.
In the meantime, Saidjaffar Ismonov claims that suit filed against him by Masoud Sobirov is unfounded. “Only the country’s authorities recognize Masoud Sobirov as leader of the party, while the DPT board does not recognize him as the DPT leader,” said Ismonov, “Moreover, Mr. Sobirov did not appear before the court and the fact that journalists are not allowed to attend the trial suggests that the hearing of case is biased.”
The court should hand down ruling on this case today.
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.
