DUSHANBE, February 22, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Social-Democratic Party (SDPT) leader Rahmatillo Zoirov has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper Minbari Khalq (The People’s Tribune), which is an official paper of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT).

Rahmatillo Zoirov remarked this at a news conference in Dushanbe on February 22.

According to him, he filed the lawsuit in the court of Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district on February 20, asking for 500,000 somoni in damages after an article by a certain Faridoun Saidzoda, published in Minbari Khalq on February 4, 2010, allegedly defamed him.  “Accusations made by the author against me are absolutely unfounded,” Zoirov said.

The SDPT leader added that he will also file lawsuit against the state-run newspaper Jumhuriyat (Republic) after the February 28 parliamentary elections.

“An article by a certain Parviz Alizoda, published in the newspaper, accuses me of treachery and contacts with Uzbek authorities,” stated Zoirov, “It is to be noted that the mentioned newspapers do not have correspondents with these names, and proceeding from this, I may conclude that both articles are ordered.”