Архив за месяц: Январь 2013

Analytics

Second Recording Released In Tajik ‘Kompromat’ War

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By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service

January 14, 2013

Last week we brought you the story of a brewing scandal in Tajikistan over «kompromat,» or compromising material.A Tajik businessman jailed in Dubai released what his aides said would be the first of many recordings that would expose corruption at the highest levels of government.

Now a second installment has appeared online.

The businessman, Umarali Quvatov, was detained last month in Dubai and is fighting extradition to Tajikistan following accusations of fraud.

On January 10 he released an audio recording of an alleged taped telephone conversation between himself and Shamsullo Sohibov, a son-in-law of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon. In it, the man who is purportedly Sohibov complains roughly that Rahmon’s approval is needed for anything to get done in Tajikistan.

In the second recording, posted online on January 13, a man who is allegedly Sohibov offers Quvatov a bribe on condition that he leave Faroz, a company that Quvatov claims he and Sohibov co-owned before Quvatov was forced to leave the country.

In the roughly one-minute-long recording, the man who is purportedly Sohibov offers Quvatov what he calls “legal money” and tells Quvatov that if he accepts the money they will no longer be business partners. He adds that he would not let anyone “hurt” Quvatov. After Quvatov asks about the conditions of the deal, «Sohibov» tells him that if he leaves the company he will keep his promise and they will remain friends instead of enemies.

Quvatov’s aide, Nikolai Nikolaev, told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service on January 11 that his team was releasing the recordings in order to prove that Rahmon’s relatives used coercion and intimidation to take over Faroz. The company exports oil products via Tajik territory to Afghanistan.

Late last week, a spokesman for Faroz told RFE/RL that no one by the name of Sohibov works for the company. The company has also denied Quvatov’s involvement in it.

Quvatov was arrested on December 23 in Dubai at the request of Tajik authorities, who have accused him of committing $1.2 million in fraud. However, Quvatov claims he was instrumental in the creation of a network of companies controlled by Rahmon’s relatives and allies.

— Deana Kjuka; based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service

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Contest for documentary photographers open

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Professional and amateur photographers can participate in a contest on human rights.

The annual FotoEvidence Book Award will recognize a documentary photographer whose project demonstrates courage and commitment in addressing a violation of human rights, a significant injustice or an assault on human dignity.

The winning project will be published in book form, as part of a series of FotoEvidence books dedicated to photographers whose commitment and courage create an awareness of social injustice. The photographer will receive royalties on book sales.

Photographers should submit up to 15 images from one project along with a US$50 entry fee. (That fee may also be waived by writing to contest organizers.)

Applications are accepted until January 15.

For more information, click here: http://www.fotoevidence.com/book-award

Analytics

Jailed Tajik Oppositionist Threatens More Rahmon Revelations

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By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service

January 11, 2013

The latest twist in the tale of former Tajikistan insider Umarali Quvatov could go straight to the heart of the nepotistic regime of President Emomali Rahmon.A purported taped telephone conversation between Quvatov and Shamsullo Sohibov, a son-in-law of Rahmon’s, appeared on YouTube on January 10.

In the roughly two-minute recording, a man who is purportedly Sohibov complains in profane language that nothing is done in Tajikistan without Rahmon’s approval. He says that Tajik ministers even sometimes deny his requests, despite his close relations with Rahmon through his marriage to presidential daughter Rukhshona Rahmonova.

While the YouTube clip contains little in the way of explosive claims, a Quvatov aide says it is merely the first of many that will expose corruption at the heart of the Rahmon regime.

The aide, Nikolai Nikolaev, told RFE/RL’s Tajik Service that Quvatov’s team is releasing the material in a bid to prove that Rahmon’s relatives used extortion and intimidation to take control of a company called Faroz that exports oil products to Afghanistan via Tajik territory. Quvatov claims that he and Sohibov were co-owners of Faroz before Quvatov was forced to leave the country.

«Yes, we have enough material to create a scandal within the Rahmon political family,» Nikolaev says. «[We have enough] so that the country will understand that we are not bluffing, that we really do have proof that will expose the entire financial system under which Mr. Quvatov’s business was stolen.»It will show who was really behind the company Faroz, as well as the personal relations between the son-in-law and the father-in-law (Rahmon) — how (Sohibov) relates to him, what he calls him, and so on.»

The Tajik presidential administration did not respond to RFE/RL’s requests for comment. A spokesman for Faroz told RFE/RL only that no one named Sohibov works for the firm. Faroz also released a statement saying that Quvatov has never had any role in the company.

‘Choosing Our Own Tactics’

Quvatov was arrested in Dubai on December 23 on a Tajik extradition request. He claims that he was instrumental in setting up the vast network of companies controlled by Rahmon’s relatives and political cronies, while Tajikistan accuses him of carrying out fraud worth $1.2 million.

Nikolaev, who is in Dubai, says Quvatov is releasing the material in an attempt to pressure Dushanbe into rescinding its extradition request. He says the timing of the release of further recordings will be determined by the actions of Tajik prosecutors.»We are now going to be looking at the tactics of the investigators and will be choosing our own tactics,» he says. «And, depending on necessities, we will determine the interval after which we will place these recordings on the Internet.»

Nikolaev says the recording was made at the beginning of the dispute between Quvatov and the Rahmon clan, but he did not say exactly when. He added that further installments from the conversations will allegedly show how Sohibov offered Quvatov money to give up control of his business and then threatened him.

Quvatov first made headlines in the summer of 2012 when he fled Tajikistan for Moscow. There he formed an organization called Group 24, which he claims is a new political movement opposed to Rahmon. Tajik Prosecutor-General Sherkhon Salimzoda told journalists on January 9 that Dushanbe is seeking Quvatov’s extradition but did not specify any possible charges against him.

Nikolaev told RFE/RL that Quvatov flew to Dubai to meet with «other structures» in order to discuss a common strategy against Rahmon.

Rahmon has headed Tajikistan since 1992. His family is widely believed to control virtually the entire economy of the country. A U.S. diplomatic cable released by the antisecrecy website WikiLeaks in 2010 asserted that Rahmon and his relatives «play hardball to protect their business interests, no matter the cost to the economy writ large.»

Written by RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Tajik Service
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Environmental journalism contest seeks entries

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Journalists working in the United States, Canada and Mexico can apply for a US$5,000 award.

The Knight-Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism honors the highest-quality environmental reporting about the North American West, which includes the U.S. west of the Mississippi River, Canada west of Ontario, including Nunavut, and all of Mexico.

Entries are open to professional journalists throughout North America, as well as students, citizen journalists and those from startups and nonprofits.

Relevant topics include water and other natural resources, wildlife and habitats, regional planning, energy, environmental change and interstate and transnational environmental issues.

The prize is awarded at the annual Knight-Risser Prize Symposium at Stanford University.

Apply by March 15.

For more information, click here: http://knightrisser.stanford.edu/eligibility_guidelines.html

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Tajik President’s Picture Prompts Reprint Of Textbooks

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Authorities in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have rejected batches of textbooks earmarked for schools serving their Tajik minorities after they were printed with pictures of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Tajik national symbols.

Tajik media reports on January 8 said that the shipment of about 10,000 textbooks for Tajik schools in Kyrgyzstan was suspended at the request of the Kyrgyz authorities.

Tajik Deputy Education Minister Farhod Rahimov told journalists on January 7 that talks on reprinting the textbooks were being held with the Kazakh and Kyrgyz authorities. Kyrgyz parliament members confirmed that information to journalists in Bishkek on January 8.

According to Tajik media, the textbooks will be reprinted with pictures of the presidents of the country where they will appear.

Traditionally, secondary-school textbooks in post-Soviet Central Asia have texts of the national anthems, flags, and pictures of the presidents at the beginning. The tradition goes back to Soviet times when a portrait of Vladimir Lenin greeted the reader.

In recent years, a personality cult has been growing around Tajik President Rahmon, who is addressed as «your excellency» by government employees and portrayed by the state media as something akin to a monarch.

In late December, Tajikistan’s state movie producer, Tajikkino, released amulti-DVD collection of documentaries on Rahmon’s rule over the last 20 years. According to RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, Tajikkino was forcing some vendors to stock the collection.

The ethnic Tajik minorities are very small (less than 1 percent) in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and certainly not a cause for any insurgency concerns. But with still-fresh memories of 2010 ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan and the rising personality cult of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, neither country likes the idea of its minorities aligning with political leaders in neighboring countries.

In recent days, cracks have appeared in Central Asia’s complex ethnic mosaic with a hostage crisis in an Uzbek exclave within Kyrgyzstan.

Residents of Sokh, who are Uzbek citizens and mostly ethnic Tajiks, clashed with Kyrgyz border guards over the installation of power lines at a border post. Thirty Kyrgyz citizens were taken hostage but subsequently released.

News

New Turkmen Law Promises Freedom Of Media

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The repressive Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan has passed a new law guaranteeing freedom of the media.

The law, which came into effect on January 4, states that «nobody can prohibit or impede the media from disseminating information of public interest» and that citizens of Turkmenistan have the right to use any form of media to express their opinions.

The new law also prohibits censorship.

Turkmenistan routinely ranks among the worst countries in the world in terms of media freedom, with the United Nations describing the state as wielding «absolute» control over the country’s television, newspapers, and magazines.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is a shareholder in nearly all of the country’s leading newspapers.

Turkmenistan’s first private newspaper, «Rysgal,» was launched in 2011 by one of the government’s two political parties.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Golos Rossii