TAJIKISTAN: Independent paper seized by authorities

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

DUSHANBE, 16 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - The Tajik tax police have impounded copies of the independent weekly Ruzi Nav printed abroad, Rajabi Mirzo, editor of the newspaper, told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe on Tuesday.

Mirzo said that the newspaper's most recent issue printed at an independent printing house in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, had been seized at the cargo unit of the Dushanbe airport. The newspaper was forced to print abroad following a government crackdown on independent media in the former Soviet republic.

"This has happened because our newspaper is considered to be in opposition [to the government]," he said, adding that the next issue of the paper had been suspended due to this incident.

Karim Jangiev, head of the transportation tax police department, told IRIN that the impoundment of the newspaper was based on alleged tax evasion.

The tax police department said they had information that Ruzi Nav management was allegedly intending to bring more copies than officially declared. "When the number of copies was counted, it appeared that it corresponded to the customs declaration. However, there were violations in other documents,” Jangiev maintained.

The Tajik tax authorities claim that some clauses of the agreement signed between Ruzi Nav and the Mass Media Support Fund running the independent printing house in Kyrgyzstan were not correct.

“For example, the contract says that the customer, in this case Ruzi Nav, is a mass media outlet, registered and functioning according to the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic and the newspaper guarantees that materials provided by them do not contradict the legislation of Kyrgyzstan. Actually, Ruzi Nav newspaper was registered at the Ministry of Justice of Tajikistan and it should operate within the framework of the legislation of Tajikistan, not of the neighbouring republic where it is printed,” Jangiev said.

Given that, according to Jangiev, the tax officials had to make a request to the Ministry of Culture to confirm that the newspaper complied with the country's laws.

However, local rights groups say that the move by the authorities was a planned action. “The impoundment of Ruzi Nav was wrong,” Shokirjon Khakimov, a member of the Tajik Legal Consortium Board, told IRIN.

“I believe that the arguments about the need to confirm the compliance of the newspaper at the Ministry of Culture are unreasonable. I think that the actions of the related [government] bodies were counter-productive and directed against freedom of speech and restrict access to information,” he said.

Akbar Sattorov, head of the Charhki Gardun group, a local media holding comprising eight newspapers, suggested that the incident was the result of a lack of experience on behalf of Ruzi Nav. “From now on they need to be more careful while signing the contracts,” he said.

Meanwhile, the newspaper is waiting for a decision by the culture ministry's commission investigating the issue. "Then, probably, we will bring a suit against the tax police employees,” Mirzo said.

[ENDS]