DUSHANBE, February 20, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- Tojiron Company has filed a libel lawsuit against the Dushanbe daily newspaper, Imrouz News (New Today), and a lawyer from Sughd province, Ms. Fayziniso Vohidova.

The company asks for 1.00 somoni from Imrouz News and 50,000 somoni from Ms. Fayziniso Vohidova as compensation of moral damage that was allegedly caused by an article published by the newspaper.

Since Tojiron is a legal entity, its lawyers have decided to file the lawsuit in Tajikistan’s High Economic Court, an official source at Torjiron told Asia-Plus in an interview.      

An article “Murdafurushi dar Shirkati Tojiron” that was published in the newspaper on January 17 has become the cause of the lawsuit.  The article was about a fatal traffic accident, involving one of Tojiron’s gasoline tankers, which took place on the Dushanbe-Khujand highway.

“We consider that publication of unchecked facts is a great mistake of the newspaper.  Each journalist must double check the facts and find out opinions of both sides,” said representative of Tojiron.  “In this case, Imrouz News has not checked the facts about the accident, and thereby, it has undermined image of Tojiron among the population.”

Meanwhile, editorial staff of Imrouz News noted that they published a disclaimer 15 days after the article was published.

It is to be noted that it is already the second libel lawsuit filed against the newspaper over the past month.  Rustam Hukumov, the son of Tajik Railways head Amonullo Hukumov, filed the lawsuit against Imrouz News on January 29, asking for 50,000 somoni as compensation of moral damage that was allegedly caused by an article published by the newspaper.

An article “Hukumov and Bakiyev Become Headache for Their Fathers” that was published in the newspaper last October has become the cause of the lawsuit.  The article was about detention of the sons of Amonullo Hukumov and ex-Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev by law enforcement authorities of other countries.