DUSHANBE, May 6, 2011, Asia-Plus -- By ruling handed down by a court in Dushanbe’s Firdavsi district the Bureau of Linguistic Expertise, Legal Advice, and Investigative Journalism is closed down.

Lawyer Shuhrat Qudratov, who represented the Bureau of Linguistic Expertise, Legal Advice, and Investigative Journalism in the trial, says in a ruling handed down on May 6 after hearing of arguments, a judge sustained a lawsuit filed in the court by the Ministry of Justice.  Under this ruling, the Bureau must be closed down for violation of the country’s legislation.

“We are going to appeal the ruling,” the lawyer said.

We will recall that Juma Tolib, director the Bureau of Linguistic Expertise, Legal Advice, and Investigative Journalism, which is founder of the Dushanbe independent weekly Paykon , was summoned to appear in court on February 10 to respond to charges by the Ministry of Justice that the Bureau is improperly registered.  The ministry asked the court to close the organization because it did not register a change of address, which was simply a move to a different floor in the same building.

Juma Tolib considers that the main reason for an attempt to shut down the Bureau is critical articles published in Paykon .

Radio Liberty’ Tajik Service reported on April 22 that equipment from the offices of Paykon has been confiscated in line with a court-imposed fine of 300,000 somoni ($67,153) for libeling Tojikstandart (state agency for standardization, certification, metrology and trade inspection).  Paykon correspondent Ahliddin Salimpour told RFE/RL that court bailiffs took two computers, a scanner, and a printer from the newspaper''s offices.

Tojikstandart brought the defamation suit after Paykon in 2009 published a statement from a group of businessmen who accused the product-safety watchdog of obstructing their activities.  In October 2009, Dushanbe''s Firdavsi district court ordered Paykon to pay 300,000 somoni in compensation to Tojikstandart.