In the battle with the Tajikistan justice system, independent media has its own useful weapons, and a lawyer isn't afraid to use them. Photograph by Flickr user Mathonan (CC-usage).

Editor’s note: The saga of three judges and three newspapers continues in Tajikistan and has taken an interesting turn as the journalists fight back with a new recording revealing the corruption in the Supreme Court.  neweurasia’s Alpharabius reports. Check out his continuing coverage here.

Solehjon Juraev, the lawyer who ignited an astronomic lawsuit against three major independent newspapers in Tajikistan and who is the fourth defendant in the case, has made good on his promise by publishing another sensational recording that exposes the corrupt practices of the Supreme Court.  The transcript could very well tilt the situation in favor of the newspapers.

Read the full story »

Is corruption or survival the elephant in the room in Tajikistan? Image by Flickr user David Blackwell (CC-usage).

Editor’s note: neweurasia readers will already be well-acquainted with the ongoing Roghun project and the controversy surrounding it, as well as the news, announced first by our network, of a massive lawsuit by a trio of judges against a trio of independent newspapers. neweurasia’s Averroes sees a potentially serious ethical conflict between the government and press in Tajikistan and wants to know your opinion: whose side is right?

Imagine if you were the government of one of the world’s most economically vulnerable countries. Every winter millions of your citizens go cold as nearly limitless hydro-electrical potential goes untapped. Developing this potential would require an engineering feat.

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We already wrote that Kyrgyz ISPs started blocking independent news websites that are critical of the Kyrgyz government. None of ISPs did not give any comments on it. Most internet users believe that it is due to the blocked websites’ content that is critical of the government that made ISPs block the websites, notably the information about Eugene Gourevitch, ex-director general of MGN Group, a company that managed the assets of the Development Fund of Kyrgyzstan (Italian court accused Gourevitch of large scale fraud and issued an arrest warrant for him).

Not only ISPs, but owners of internet forums are also filtering the content. Moderators at the popular internet forum Diesel have been blocking and deleting [ru] the topics opened to discuss Eugene Gourevitch. However, no one knows whether or not ISPs and internet forums were forced by the government to filter the content or it is a self-censorship act in order not to mess with authorities. In any case, it is an indicator of deterioration of freedom of speech in the country.

Despite the block, lots of internet users are using different proxy servers and anonymizers that help bypassing the blocks. However, some proxy servers are not correctly adjusted to display Cyrillic letters. NinjaProxy, most popular proxy server among Kyrgyz internet users, is one of them. Here is the picture of how it displays blocked web-site of Ferghana.Ru:

There are tons of other proxy servers that do not have such problems, and we could list them here in order to help those who encounter abovementioned problem. But we wont, as most of them are are difficult to use and full of different ads and pop-up windows that irrirate people much. And there is an easy way for bypassing the blocks - via Google Translate. Here is a video that we made today that shows how you can use Google Translete to access blocked web-sites:

Today, since the early morning, internet users around Kyrgyzstan have been discussing the apparent blocking by Kyrgyz ISPs of the website of Ferghana.Ru, the popular independent web-site that is critical of Central Asian governments.

Daniil Kislov, founder and editor-in-chief of Ferghana.Ru, told neweurasia that it is the first time this has ever happened in Kyrgyzstan.  Kislov believes an article by Eugene Gourevitch, the ex-director general of MGN Group that managed the assets of the Development Fund of the Kyrgyz Republic, is the reason. The article states that the Italian court is accusing Gourevitch of large scale fraud and that Roman Judge Aldo Morgigni has issued an arrest warrant for Gourevitch, who is a US citizen.

The Italian court named Eugene Gourevitch among other 55 associates that were allegedly involved in a fraud that have siphoned an astonishing US$2.7 billion from the wholesale telephony divisions of Telecom Italia SpA and Fastweb SpA between 2003 and 2006. Gourevitch’s Italian associates allegedly employed fictitious receipts for telephony. Judge Morgigni’s 1,600 page arrest warrant claims “Gourevitch used his international contacts and financial expertise to help the Italian criminals launder their illicit profits”.

MGN Asset Management, a subsidiary of MGN Group, won a tender in September 2009 organized by the Development Fund for consultancy services and management of its assets. After that, Gourevitch has become a target for many Kyrgyz journalists. Read the full story »

Yes, that’s me, working hard on CyberChaikhana in one Leuven’s cafes.   The project’s deadline was pushed back to later this year, but it perseveres nonetheless!  Two weeks ago Ben and I were working on what currently exists of the manuscript (half!) and reviewing some of the graphic mock-ups.

Today, I just finished revising the Tajikistan chapter, which has now been fleshed out to include our coverage on the Roghun and lawsuit controversies.  I had to suffer hours upon hours of gruesome Flemish folk music to do it, but hey, the people of Tajikistan have suffered far worse.  ;-)

Journalism, public relations and marketing are undergoing tremendous changes in the 21st Century, and much more change is imminent because of the Internet, says KIMEP Associate Professor Ken Harvey, Ph.D.

Dr. Harvey is one of dozens of local and international professors and professionals providing their free training at the KIMEP International Conference on March 25-27 on the campus of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, located at Abai and Dostyk Streets in Almaty.

Discussion topics at the conference include:

• The Future is the Internet.
• The Impact of Convergence Technologies on Society.
• Case Studies of Convergence Technology.
• Journalism and Public Relations Education in Kazakhstan.
• Review of Online Educational Tools Available Now Online.
• Hands-on Digital Photography.
• Hands-on Internet Communication Tools.
• Creative Broadcasting.
• Principles of Media Management.
• The Future of Online Journalism.
• The Role of Public Relations in Central Asia.
• Challenges of Online Public Relations.
• Human Rights, Refugees and the Media.
• Women’s Issues in the Media.
• Vision and Plan for a New Educational TV Channel in Kazakhstan.

In addition to the more than 80 free workshops and presentations, the KIMEP Department of Journalism and Mass Communication is sponsoring a writing competition for university, college and high school students. The topic of the writing competition is, “How the Internet will Change the World.” Read the full story »

We would like to invite you, your teachers and students to participate in the KIMEP International Conference (KIC) on March 25-27, in Almaty. Attendance at any of the anticipated 75-100 workshop sessions is free, and we have some very prestigious and exciting presenters scheduled at the 3-day conference. Review the list on the back of this page.

Free, but space limited. Call +7 (727) 270 42 96 or email gulnar@kimep.kz to reserve your space right away.
WRITING COMPETITION: “How the Internet will Change the World.” 400-word limit. In English (but can use Google translator or other translation aids). 15.000Tg first place, 10.000 second place, 5.000 third place, and five 2.000 fourth place awards. Award-winners to read papers at the conference. All participants who attend conference to be honored and to receive printed certificate. DEADLINE March 18. Submit to Professor Ken Harvey, JMC Department, KIMEP, 4 Abai, Valikhanov 413, Almaty 050010. The Essay Awards Ceremony, reading of the winning essays by the student authors, and closing social will be Saturday evening (March 27) from 17.00-19.00. Read the full story »

Translation of mursya’s post (RUS).

We are pleased to announce the competition to enter The Central Asian Summer Program for Journalists, held from 17 May to 6 August 2010 in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan). The 12-week certificate program is sponsored by Deutsche Welle Akademie, the OSCE Academy in Bishkek (supported by the Government of Finland) and Media4Democracy (Geneva). Read the full story »

Is the head of Tajikistan's Supreme Court the real enemy? Photograph by Flickr user Victor Nuno (CC-usage).

Editor’s note: The saga of three judges and three newspapers continues in Tajikistan and has taken an interesting turn: the human rights lawyer at the center of the lawsuit has accused Nusratullo Abdulloev, the head of the Supreme Court, as being the real problem, possibly offering the three plaintiffs a way out.  neweurasia’s Alpharabius reports. Check out his continuing coverage here.

The Sino district court of Dushanbe has decided to postpone the trial of three independent newspapers until mid-March. The judge, Amriddin Safoev, has not given any particular day for resumption of the trial, but mentioned, by the way, that the hearing will be restarted after the parliamentary elections.

This remark of the judge, despite his immediate stipulation (”the trial has not related to elections in any way”), ignited journalists to question the independence of the court. Marat Mamadshoev, the Editor-in chief of Asia-Plus, one of the defendant newspapers, feels it is strange that the judge mentioned the coming elections and did not appoint an exact date for the trial.

Read the full story »

Editor’s note: Irada Guseinova, from the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations, discusses the use of legal means to intimidate the press in Tajikistan Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. This follows Alpharabius’ report on the recent closing of three newspapers in Tajikistan. Check out his continuing coverage here. (Translation of (RUS).)

Tajikistan

The country’s officials have recently been swamping newspapers with all sorts of lawsuits. Industry watchdogs already warned that the number of cases against the media was on the rise. The National Association of Independent Mass-Media in Tajikistan (NAIMT) sounded the alarm after the president issued a decree ordering officials of all ranks to respond to criticism in the media. NAIMT claimed it was easier for officials to sue journalists than to merit them with a response and improve their work. Given the current judicial system (independent courts are virtually absent in post-Soviet countries), punishing journalists seems easy. Moreover, by punishing journalists officials demonstrate to the president that they were working properly and were slandered by the press. Read the full story »