DUSHANBE, July 12, 2013, Asia-Plus – Chairman of the TV and Radio-broadcasting Committee under the Government of Tajikistan, Asadullo Rahmonov, says he did not give president’s son’s wedding video to Dodojon Atovulloyev.
Rahmonov stated this at a news conference in Dushanbe on July 12.
According to him, there is no video of that wedding ceremony in the Committee’s record office.
“You are professional journalists and I ask you to rely on reliable sources for information,” Rahmonov said.
He also noted that no one cameraman of the TV and Radio-broadcasting Committee had been summoned to the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) for questioning over the wedding video.
We will recall that some media sources have reported that all camera operators who attended the wedding have been summoned to the SCNS for questioning.
As it had been reported earlier, K+ Channel in May repeatedly broadcast a program in the Tajik language with participation of Tajik opposition journalist Dodojon Atovulloyev criticizing President Emomali Rahmon. A homemade video depicting President Rahmon dancing at his son’s wedding was shown during the program. Atovulloyev said that Asadullo Rahmonov had given the video to him. Access to K+ was blocked on May 28, three days after the video was aired.
Some local experts suggested that access to K+ Channel had been blocked because of that program but specialists from the Tajik communications service agency asserted that it was impossible to block access to a satellite channel.
K+ Channel became available in Tajikistan again on June 5 but access to it was blocked again on July 2.
Asked about reasons for blockade of access to the regional independent television channel K+, Rahmonov said that the government had not given any instructions to block the channel.
K+ Channel released a statement on July 5 claiming that the Tajik authorities have been jamming its broadcast signal on the Hotbird satellite since July 2. The statement, in particular, noted that the signal has been especially strongly jammed when K+ Channel has broadcast programs in the Tajik language with participation of Tajik opposition journalist Dodojon Atovulloyev.
