DUSHANBE, May 19, Asia-Plus  - Head office of the Democratic Party (DPT) in Dushanbe was unsealed on Monday as representatives of the wing of the DPT run by jailed Mahmadruzi Iskandarov handed over the party’s seal and registration certificate to Masoud Sobirov, the leader of the wing, which was officially recognized by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) as the official Democratic Party, in the presence of bailiff from a court in Dushanbe’s Ismoili Somoni district.     

As it had been reported earlier, a court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district on May 14 ruled to give the Iskandarov-run one month wing to give its property to the party’s wing led by Masoud Sobirov, and Ismoili Somoni district court’s bailiff sealed the DTP head office on May 16.   

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Rahmatullo Valiyev, deputy leader of the Iskandarov-run wing, described the Shohmansour court verdict as unjust and said that they had appealed to the Supreme Court over the latest verdict.  According to him, except the seal and the registration certificate the other property belong to supporters of Iskandarov.  

We will recall that the first ruling on giving DPT’s property to the Sobirov-led wing was handed down by the Shohmansour district on May 14, 2007.  The party split after Sobirov formed a separate faction in April 2006, which a MoJ recognized as the official Democratic Party in October 2006.