KHUJAND, June 1, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- The trial of Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter with the Dushanbe-based independent weekly, Nouri Zindagi (Light of Life), began in a court of Asht district in Sughd province on May 31.

Plaintiffs in the trial, which is presided over by Ms. Justice Saodat Atoyeva, are twelve officials from the Asht local authorities.

Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov is charged with defamation, insult, incitement of ethnic, racial, regional or religious enmity, and extortion.

The Nouri Zindagi editor-in-chief Juma Mirzo considers that Ismoilov was arrested for his professional activities.  According to him, critical articles authored by Ismoilov that were published in Nouri Zindagi and Istiqlol (Independence) had a broad resonance.  Ismoilov, 50, married with three children.  He contributed to other newspapers as well.

We will recall that Ismoilov was arrested in Sughd province on November 23, 2010 but the regional press first reported on the case on December 13, 2010.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on December 16 denounced the imprisonment Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov.  CPJ reports that the Dushanbe-based National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (Nansmit) said Ismoilov was criminally charged with defamation and insult through the media (two separate counts).  If convicted, Ismoilov faces up to two and a half years in prison.  The Nansmit head Nouriddin Qarshiboyev told CPJ he believes Ismoilov was arrested in retaliation for his reporting.  “Ismoilov consistently criticized the regional government, law enforcement agencies, and the judiciary for alleged mismanagement, poor social and economic policies, and abuse of power,” Qarshiboyev told CPJ.

According to Qarshiboyev and local press reports, regional prosecutors asked Nouri Zindagi to provide them with all the articles Ismoilov had written for the weekly since he joined the newspaper in 2008.

“We call on Tajik authorities to drop all these politicized charges against Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov and release him at once,” CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.  “Tajikistan must decriminalize its defamation and insult laws in order to bring itself in line with international norms for press freedom.”

Qarshiboyev told CPJ that he has studied Ismoilov''s publications in detail and has not found any instances of insult or defamation.