Stop or We'll Sue

Tajikistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, needs a free press perhaps now more than ever. Parliamentary elections loom later this month at a time when pro-government parties have effectively locked the opposition out of government. Corruption is rife. And Dushanbe has embarked on a project to fund a huge hydroelectric plant by virtually compelling its citizens, many of whom live in mud huts, to invest in the dam.

It is no time for the cop to be taken off the beat.

But the country is in the grips of an ethical drama with important significance for supporters of freedom of speech around the world.

On 31 January, TOL partner neweurasia reported that three judges, Nur Nurov and Ulughbek Mamadshoev of the Supreme Court and Fakhriddin Dodometov of the Dushanbe City Court, filed a suit against the independent newspapers Faraj, Ozodagon, and Asia-Plus, on the grounds that the papers violated Tajikistan's defamation law by publishing a letter from lawyer Solijona Juraev accusing the three judges of making biased court decisions and imposing illegal penalties. 

The plaintiffs are asking for more than 4 million somoni ($1 million), “an impossible sum beyond the ability of the [newspapers] to pay, hence leading them to permanent closure,” remarks neweurasia's blogger, Alpharabius, who is covering the case.

Alpharabius said the judges are casting themselves as public servants too long dogged by unethical reporters. In an interview with neweurasia, Nurov said, “Baseless accusations have been directed against us, but nothing, not a single word has been raised against the people who wrote these articles against us.”

Alpharabius, echoing the sentiments of many in the independent Tajik press, believes that the judges are indeed tired of being dogged by journalists because they want to be free to do as they please. He believes that the suit is at least peripherally connected to both the hydroelectric project and the upcoming elections.

In particular, the blogger reports that during the first hearing, which occurred earlier this week, one of the judges remarked that the trio intends to donate the damage award to the dam fund. The dam project is a top development priority for electricity-starved Tajikistan. Meanwhile, the elections begin only five days after the 23 February start date for the trial, just in time to distract the newspapers with legal preparations.

“[T]here will be serious battles ahead between the two sides precisely because so much is at stake,” the blogger adds. “Will the government choose power over justice? Will the media choose safety over truth?”

 
Whatever the truth behind the suit, it's clear that if the three newspapers lose, independent media in Tajikistan are likely to be effectively muzzled. More troubling, it's also clear that there seems to be a concerted campaign to achieve this very goal. For example, in late January, the Agriculture Ministry launched a similar lawsuit against another independent newspaper, Millat, demanding more than 960,000 somoni.

Meanwhile, yet another independent newspaper, Paykon, was successfully sued for libel by Tajikstandart, a government agency that monitors the quality of imported goods, for 300,000 somoni – a fiscal calamity for the paper.

The plight of Paykon prompted Reporters Without Borders to call on the Tajik government to stop using the judiciary to muzzle independent media. It said the country’s defamation law should be changed to ensure that damage awards “are proportional to the resources of the media concerned.”

The group also noted that “a new tendency is emerging in the lawsuits that have been brought against the country’s leading independent newspapers in the past few days. With just weeks to go to parliamentary elections [...] there is clearly an all-out drive to intimidate news media and get them to censor their coverage of state authorities.”

Any campaign to intimidate the press is by no means directed against the printed word alone. For example, the independent news channels CMT and ORT are being hounded by a strange technical problem that is prima facie ludicrous: they are broadcasting on the same wavelength, interfering with each other.

Tolib Halls, the chief inspector of the Committee on Television, is looking into the “legality” of the situation to determine if either of the channels has violated any laws. In the meantime, both channels have temporarily ceased broadcasting. “But there's no hurry to solve this problem,” remarks Irada Guseinova, an analyst with the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, in an e-mail. “This suggests that officials do not want to deal with this issue.”

Throughout it all, President Imomali Rahmon’s position has been enigmatic. On the one hand, just a week ago, Rahmon voiced his displeasure with the Supreme Court’s behavior in previous cases. He also recently ordered all public officials to formally respond to any accusations raised by the press – essentially, to account for themselves.

On the other hand, Rahmon has yet to take a side in the current legal battle. But Rahmon can stay in the clouds only so long. In the end, to preserve the moral solidity of Tajikistan, the president must intervene, not only in defense of the press but also to open the books of the hydroelectric project to full public scrutiny.