DUSHANBE, September 1, 2011, Asia-Plus – Khurshed Atovullo (Niyozov), editor-in-chief of the Dushanbe independent weekly Farazh, and two his friends were reportedly beaten in Dushanbe while going from neighborhood # 102 to the Zarafshon-2 area.
Khurshed Atovullo said that he with two his friends were going to a friend’s home in the Zarafshon-2 area, when a car blocked the road and forced him to stop. “Three young people armed with clubs got out of the car and began to beat us and four other men staying on the side of the road joined those three assailants,” Atovullo said, noting that the men did not give a reason for the attack.
The Farazh editor is sure that the attack was planned. According to him, they saw the license plate number of the assailants’ car.
The journalist lodged a statement about the attack to Dushanbe’s Sino-2 police station.
Asia-Plus tried to get in touch by phone with Farhod Haidarov, an investigator with the Sino-2 police station, but failed.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that Nouriddin Qarshiboyev, the head of National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit), deplored the attack on Atovullo. Qarshiboyev reportedly said if there was evidence that Atovullo was beaten for being a journalist then the association would offer him legal advice.
