The Firdousi district court in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe imposed a fine on the Paikon weekly in the amount of 300 thousand Somoni (about $69 thousand) for a publication of an article containing criticism against the Tajik State Standard Agency.

Jumaboi Tolibov, editor of Paikon told the NANSMIT monitoring service that the article was published a few months ago. A group of private entrepreneurs expressed concern over a number of decisions made by the Tajik Standard. In their opinion, these decisions create impediments to development of domestic entrepreneurship.

The editor says he considers the court decision groundless and intends to appeal to the city court.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service