DUSHANBE, January 25, Asia-Plus  - A court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district has scheduled the last hearing of a case of three female reporters for the Dushanbe tabloid newspaper Ovoza (Rumors) for Monday, January 28, journalists’ lawyer Inoyat Inoaytov, told Asia-Plus on Friday. 

According to him, Judge Akbar Safarov, who is taking in the trial, said that he will hear arguments and hand down a final ruling.         

The lawyer added that his clients had applied to court asking to provide attendance of claimant, Raihona Rahimova, who has not attended hearings since December 2006.

However, Bahodour Ismatzoda, defense lawyer of Raihona Rahimova, said that his client is currently in India.    

            We will recall that a court case pitting Tajik singer Raihona Rahimova against the Dushanbe tabloid newspaper Ovoza began on October 10, 2007 and since that time, it has been repeatedly postponed. 

The singer filed the suit against the newspaper claiming that an article published in Ovoza allegedly defamed her. 

Three female reporters for Ovoza , Farangis Nabiyeva, Muhayo Nozimova, and Saida Qurbonova, face charges of insult, libel and illegal collection and spread of information about private life.   

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

Raihona lodged an application to the Dushanbe city prosecutor’s office on July 11, 2007, claiming the article by Muhayo Nozimova and Farangis Nabiyeva had allegedly defamed her.  Following the application, the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings against them and the Ovoza editor Saida Qurbonova.        

The journalists released an open letter to President Emomali Rahmon on August 20, 2007, asking to intercede on their behalf after the Dushanbe prosecutor’s office formally initiated criminal libel case against them for “insulting” a singer.  They argued that their joint article critical of Raihona Rahimova published in Ovoza did not constitute grounds for instituting criminal proceedings.  They defended the singer’s right to defend her honor, dignity, and business reputation, but said that the issue would be better settled by a civil court. 

Researchers with the Institute of [Tajik] Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences – Sayfiddin Nazarzoda, Sayfiddin Mirzoyev and Ghiyosiddin Qodirov, who carried out the linguistic examination of the article critical of Raihona Rahimova, concluded that it does not contain elements of insult.