DUSHANBE, September 6, Asia-Plus —  A prosecutor’s office in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district has formally brought charges against two other female reporters from the tabloid newspaper Ovoza , Saida Qurbonova and Farangis Nabiyeva, as well.  

Like Muhayo Nozimova, they are also charged with libel (Article 135, Part 2) and insult (Article 136, Part 2) in reporting, and illegal collection of information about private life (Article 144).  

The charges against them were formally brought on September 5.   

We will recall that Farangis Nabiyeva and Muhayo Nozimova coauthored the critical article of singer Raihona Rahimova titled “Raihona pi-pi-pi Afghoniston” (Ovoza, # 25, June 21, 2007).  

On July 11, Raihona lodged an application to the Dushanbe city prosecutor’s office, claiming the article by Muhayo Nozimova and Farangis Nabiyeva had allegedly defamed her.  The journalists face charges under Article 135, Part 2 (defamation) and 136, Part, Point “A” (insult) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code.  

The Ovoza editor Saida Qurbonova noted that in their article, the reporters referred to the website www.mynet.tj as the primary source.    

Media rights groups have criticized Tajik prosecutors for opening criminal cases against the reporters.  Media advocacy groups in Tajikistan and Russia called on Dushanbe to stop prosecuting journalists for their professional activity.

The reporters’ defense lawyer Inoyat Inoyatov considers that his clients are charged unfoundedly.  “In accordance with professional ethics, they made reference to the website, which they used as primary source for writing the article,” said the lawyer, “Therefore, they should not bear responsibility for this.”     

According to Muhayo Nozimova, decision made by the prosecutor’s office is prejudiced.  “We are prosecuted for critics that is in contrary to Article 30 of the country’s Constitution, which prohibits prosecutions for critics,” Nozimova said.