Tajik media organizations of Tajikistan have released a joint statement, calling on the authorities to stop pressure on and treats against journalists.

The statement that was posted on the Media Council’s website yesterday says the media organizations condemn recent cases of pressure on journalists, particularly attacks on Radio Ozodi and Current Time journalists (May 17, 2022), beating of independent blogger Daler Imomali (June 4, 2022) and expressed concern about this.  

The statement notes that Tajikistan, as a democratic and constitutional state, guarantees freedom of speech and prohibits censorship, including the state censorship.  “Therefore, violation of the rights of journalists and bloggers by law enforcement agencies is unacceptable.”

Tajikistan also considers it a crime to obstruct the legitimate professional activities of journalists and the country’s criminal code penalizes this (Article 162 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code), according to the statement.  

The statement says there were also cases of obstruction of the activities of media (the recent case with Asia-Plus Media Group, which stopped to cover events in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region after pressure from the authorities and the threat of closure). 

The media organizations note that suppression of freedom of speech and pressure on journalists damage Tajik society. It also creates mistrust among journalism community and is contrary to the interests of Tajikistan, according to the statement. 

By releasing this joint statement and expressing concern about the situation, the media organizations consider it necessary:

-           To put an end to pressure on, threats and harassment against, and beating of journalists;

-           The government bodies, including the law enforcement agencies, must comply with the country’s media law and not break the law; 

-           Identify and prosecute those responsible for violating the rights of journalists, including Mullorajab Yusufzod and Daler Imomali; 

-           The law enforcement agencies should carefully investigate cases of obstruction of legitimate professional activities of journalists and bring perpetrators to justice in accordance with the law. 

At the same time, the media organizations call on journalist community and journalists to work within the framework of the country’s legislation and professional-ethical norms, taking into consideration the national interests of Tajikistan, the situation in the region and in the world.