DUSHANBE, August 30, 2010, Asia-Plus — A court case pitting ex-member of the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) Sayvali Nourov against the Dushanbe weekly
Charkhi Gardoun
began in a court of Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district on August 27. The first hearing took place behind closed door.
Mr. Akbarali Sattorov, the director general of the limited liability company Charkhi Gardoun, which operates several weeklies, including
Charkhi Gardoun
, told Asia-Plus today that Judge Nusratullo Asadullo, who takes in the trial, called on the sides to come to an agreement but Mr. Nourov did not agree for an amicable settlement. The next hearing over the law suit will take place in the near future, Sattorov said.
Sayvali Nourov, who was chairman of the Majlisi Namoyandagon Reglament Commission in 2005-2010 also ex-candidate to parliament from the Vakhsh district in Khatlon province in February this year, filed lawsuit against
Charkhi Gardoun
on August 17, asking to institute criminal proceedings against the weekly after an article published by
Charkhi Gardoun
allegedly defamed him.
On July 27,
Charkhi Gardoun
published an article entitled “Deputati Avboshro Govsud Mekunand? (Is Hooligan MP Being Tried?).
Nourov considers that the article defames him and abases his dignity, and therefore, he asks to institute criminal proceedings against the weekly under the provisions of Articles 135 (libel) and 136 (insult) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code.
In the meantime, Akbarali Sattorov says the article is not slanderous. “The article just stated the fact of instituting criminal proceedings against Sayvali Nourov,” he said.
We will recall that a case of ex-candidate to parliament from the Vakhsh district, Sayvali Nourov, was remitted to the court of Bokhtar district for second trial on July 23. The Khatlon regional court chairperson Muhabbat Azizova told Asia-Plus on July 23 that the Qurghon Teppa city that initially considered the case closed it. However, the Khatlon prosecutor’s office appealed against the decision of the Qurghon Teppa city court and the case was remitted for second trial to the Bokhtar district court, Azizova said.
As it had been reported earlier, the Khatlon prosecutor’s office completed an investigation into the case of Nourov in mid-March and the case moved for consideration to the Qurghon Teppa city court.
Nourov faces charges of hooliganism (Article 237, Part 2 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), preventing exercise of rights and activities of electoral commissions (Article 150, Part 2) and inflicting slight bodily injuries (Article 112) after assaulting an election official on election day, February 28, 2010.
We will recall that Tolib Khoujanazarov, the head of the electoral commission for polling station # 20 in the Vakhsh district, told Asia-Plus on March 1 that Nourov assaulted him on February 28 in front of several people after he let an elderly man cast a ballot on behalf of his sick wife.
Nourov confirmed that he saw the old man voted more than once and reported it as a violation of election rules. But he denied punching Khoujanazarov.
