DUSHANBE, February 25, Asia-Plus  -- The Dushanbe independent weekly Millat (Nation), against which the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) brought a libel suit in late January, demanding 1 million somoni in damages, has filed a counter suit against a MoA, asking 1.00 (one) somoni in damages.

The Millat Zohir Davlat told Asia-Plus that the libel suit filed against the weekly by the agriculture ministry is absolutely unfounded and threatens freedom of speech in the country.

In the meantime, the preliminary hearing for the lawsuit filed against Millat by the agriculture ministry is expected to begin in the court of Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district today.

We will recall that the agriculture ministry brought the suit against Millat on January 28, 2010.  The ministry demands 1 million somoni (equivalent to some 229,000 U.S. dollars) in damages after an article entitled “The Ministry of Agriculture Is the Most Corrupt Establishment” published in the weekly on December 10, 2009 allegedly defamed it.

The weekly editor Davlat Zohir said he was surprised because the offending report, published on December 10, 2009 was “short and purely factual, referring to investigations into corruption within the agriculture ministry that were carried out and published by parliament.”  Moreover, the ministry was accorded the right of reply in this case as well.

The charges against Millat come on the heels of a similar case against another publication.  On January 27, a Dushanbe court upheld a verdict on the weekly Paykon (Arrowhead), which was found guilty of libel and ordered to pay a $40,000 fine to Tajikstandart (Tajik state agency for standardization, metrology, certification and trade inspection)

We will recall that last month, judicial actions and lawsuits were brought against five independent Tajik newspapers: Paykon , Millat , Asia-Plus , Ozodagon , and Farazh .

Many international organizations and diplomatic missions as well as Tajik human rights and media organizations have released statements, expressing concern about this situation.  They, in particular, noted that the lawsuits threaten to force these newspapers to cease publication, which would be a serious blow to freedom of the press in Tajikistan.