A preliminary hearing on the lawsuit of a number of creative unions and individuals against “Asia-Plus” newspaper and its editor, Olga Tutubalina, has been held on Monday, August, 19 in Dushanbe Ferdowsi District Court.
During the hearing, the newspaper’s and Ms. Tutubalina’s lawyers Shuhrat Qudratov and Inayat Inayatov, submitted an application on abandonment of the claim to the court due to a number of legal deficiencies in it.
Mr. Inayatov pointed to the fact that the lawsuit does not have any signatures and added that “it is not clear who exactly is suing. It is not clear who are the plaintiffs.”
Also, according to him, the writs from legal entities have been typed on plain paper, while it has to be typed on the official form, which shows all the contact details. Other than the above technical deficiencies, Mr. Inayatov pointed to the others: “The lawsuit is submitted by improper plaintiffs, so the plaintiffs do not have the right to speak for the whole
intelligentsia
of Tajikistan. These organizations’s bylaws do not point to their right to speak for the whole
intelligentsia
and to represent it.”
Furthermore, according to Mr. Inayatov, the plaintiffs have violated the pre-trial order of the dispute and did not provide their answer on the journalist’s thoughts to the editorial office.
As a result of review of the provided facts, deputy chair of the Dushanbe Sina District Court, Surayya Jabbirova, issued a ruling and gave time until 27 August to the plaintiffs to correct the errors. The next hearing will be held on August 27.
It should be noted that the number of plaintiffs on the “
intelligentsia
case” has increased to eight.
The plaintiffs demand 200 thousand Samani compensation for moral damage from the defendant and the co-defendant – Ms. Tutubalina.
The plaintiffs also demand a linguistic expertise, which they hope would result in seizure of Ms. Tutubalina’s movable and immovable property.
The main plaintiffs are the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, Union of Writers of Tajikistan, and the co-plaintiffs are the country’s Unions of Artists, Composers, and Architects, Dr. Dilbar Abdieva, professor of Skin and Venereal Diseases Department of the Tajik Medical University, Askarali Rajabov, professor of Antiquity and Middle Ages, and poet Hikmat Rahmat.
