DUSHANBE, December 13, Asia-Plus – A court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district resumed the trial of three female reporters for the Dushanbe tabloid newspaper
Ovoza
(Rumors) today.
Inoyat Inoyatov, defense lawyer of the journalists, told Asia-Plus that that trial that began on October 10 this year was suspended on October 17.
The judge Akbar Safarov, who is taking in the trial, ordered the adjournment after the journalists’ defense lawyer requested for conducting repeat linguistic examination of an article critical of a Tajik singer Raihona Rahimova. The defense lawyer noted that not one but a group of specialists should conduct the repeat examination.
Inoyatov told Asia-Plus that he had familiarized himself with the repeat linguistic examination today just before the beginning of hearing of the case. “The repeat linguistic examination says the article does not contain elements of insult,” said the layer, “Experts defined the article as art-journalistic genre with element of critic; according to the country’s Constitution, any person has the right to express criticism, and therefore there is nothing illegal in that.”
We will recall that the previous examination of the article conducted by Sayfiddin Nazarzoda, Director of the Institute of [Tajik] Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences, says that the article has elements of insult.
As it had been reported earlier, three female reporters for the tabloid newspaper
Ovoza
, Farangis Nabiyeva, Muhayo Nozimova, and Saida Qurbonova (editor of
Ovoza
), face charges of insult, libel and illegal collection and spread of information about private life.
Farangis Nabiyeva and Muhayo Nozimova coauthored the article critical of singer Raihona Rahimova titled “Raihona pi-pi-pi Afghoniston” (Ovoza, # 25, June 21, 2007).
Raihona lodged an application to the Dushanbe city prosecutor’s office o July 11, claiming the article by Muhayo Nozimova and Farangis Nabiyeva had allegedly defamed her. Following the application, the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings against them and the
Ovoza
editor Saida Qurbonova.
The journalists released an open letter to President Emomali Rahmon on August 20, asking to intercede on their behalf after the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office formally initiated criminal libel case against them for “insulting” a singer. They argued that their joint article critical of Raihona Rahimova published in
Ovoza
did not constitute grounds for instituting criminal proceedings. They defended the singer’s right to defend her honor, dignity, and business reputation, but said that the issue would be better settled by a civil court.
Media rights groups have also criticized Tajik prosecutors for opening criminal cases against the reporters. Media advocacy groups in Tajikistan and Russia called on Dushanbe to stop prosecuting journalists for their professional activity.
