DUSHANBE, February 23, 2011, Asia-Plus — A court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district is continuing to hear a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) against the Center of Investigative Journalism, Consultations and Linguistic Expertise, which is founder of the Dushanbe independent weekly
Paykon
.
Lawyer Shuhrat Qudratov, representing the Center of Investigative Journalism, told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon that the Center has challenged the judge taking in the trial, “because it questions his objectivity.” According to him, the trial was adjourned until February 24.
The Ministry of Justice is represented in the trial by the senior specialist Tamara Shekhova.
We will recall that the trial began on February 10 as the Center director also chief editor of
Paykon
, Juma Tolib, was summoned to appear in court to respond to charges by the Justice Ministry that the Center of Investigative Journalism, is improperly registered. The ministry asked the court to close the organization because it did not register a change of address, which was simply a move to a different floor in the same building.
Juma Tolib supposes that the Justice Ministry is punishing the newspaper for a number of critical articles that were published in the October and January editions of
Paykon
– “Resignation” and “Buzkashi (goat grabbing) around TSUM” (this article is about a recent court decision to close a downtown shopping mall in Dushanbe).
