DUSAHNBE, October 13, Asia-Plus – A new leader of the Democratic Party (DPT) Masoud Sobirov intends to file a suit against Rajab Mirzo, the former editor of the party’s official newspaper Adolat (Justice) for illegally publishing the newspaper.
Yesterday, two different issues of Adolat published by two different printing houses, Shafei and Sanadvora, were brought out. Shafei has published Adolat of the Mahmadruzi Iskandarov-run wing and Sanadvora has published Adolat of the DPT wing run by Masoud Sobirov.
“The Ministry of Justice has recognized us and in accordance with the party’s rules only we have the right to publish the party’s official newspaper Adolat,” Sobirov said in an interview with Asia-Plus. According to him, the DPT congress also elected a new editorial staff of Adolat and new Adolat editor is Muhammadibrohim Abdujabborov. “Despite this, the former leadership of the party continues publishing the newspaper, which violates the law,” Sobirov said.
In the meantime, Rajab Mirzo noted in his interview with Asia-Plus that only they have a license for publishing Adolat. “If the printing houses refuse to print our newspapers we will continue publishing it using a copy machine,” Rajab Mirzo said.
The Democratic Party resumed publication of its newspaper on September 6 after a two-year hiatus. The 8-page Adolat was published once a week as it had been before its closure and had a circulation of a 1,000. But last week, Adolat ceased publication after the Shafei publishing house refused to print it. The printing house’s administration received a letter from the Ministry of Culture requesting suspension of publication of Adolat. The Culture Ministry official told Asia-Plus that the decision was based on the request of the new leader of the DPT, Masoud Sobirov. On October 5, Rajab Mirzo-run editorial staff of Adolat produced some copies of Adolat in a smaller format using the copy machine. ”We printed 99 copies, which does not violate the law,” Rajab Mirzo said.
