KHUJAND, October 28, 2013, Asia-Plus -- A prosecutor in the trial of former journalist Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov asked the Asht district court on October 28 to sentence Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov to a 14-year term.   

The trial of Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov, presided over by Dilovar Safarov, a judge at a court in the Mastchoh district, began in the Asht district court, Sughd province on October 23.

Ismoilov, who has worked as distributor of the Dushanbe-based weekly Nigoh (View) in the northern Sughd province, faces charges of extortion and fraud.

Ismoilov has been held at pretrial detention center # 2 in Khujand the administrative center of Sughd province since June 29 this year.

We will recall that police detained former regional reporter for the Dushanbe-based independent weekly Nouri Zindagi (Light of Life) in Sughd province, Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov, on June 24 this year following an application by two local women.

The Tajik Interior Ministry announced on June 26 that Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov is accused of demanding bribes from two residents of the northern province of Sughd.

It is not the first time police have detained Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov.  We will recall that Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov was arrested in November 2010 on separate counts of defamation, insult, and incitement to hatred over an article titled, “Asht Is Being Destroyed. Who Is Responsible for It?”  In the article, published in the August 2010 issue of Nouri Zindagi, Ismoilov criticized government and law enforcement officials in the Asht district in the northern Sughd province of Tajikistan, and cited corruption, abuse of office, and mismanagement of funds.

Ismoilov who was facing 16 years imprisonment on charges related to his professional activities was released on October 14, 2011.  The Khujand court, however, barred Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov from journalistic work for three years, and ordered him to pay a fine in the amount of 35,000 somoni for causing moral damages.