Tajikistan: Journalists were not allowed to the trial of the well-known blogger Chorshanbiev

On Monday, February 28, the trial of the well-known Tajik blogger and MMA fighter Chorshanbe Chorshanbiev began. Judge Safar Nuralizoda declared the court session open.

However, the trial, which was supposed to be held in an open format, is actually closed for journalists and the public. It takes place in the pre-trial detention center building.

Representatives of the media and civil society gathered today at the pre-trial detention center of the penal colony 9/1 of the Main Directorate for the Execution of Criminal Punishments under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan in the morning, as earlier it was announced that the court session would begin at 10:00.

According to the list, all those who had applied in advance for permission to participate in the criminal trial against Chorshanbiev were allowed into the hall, but then they were told that the meeting was postponed for 14 hours and asked to leave the institution.

At 13:00, the officers of the pre-trial detention center began to let the defendant’s lawyers and relatives in, but that time the journalists weren’t allowed into the courtroom, citing the fact that media representatives didn’t file a request to participate in the trial in a timely manner.

Earlier the lawyers of Chorshanbiev Ch. petitioned for the appointment of a criminal case in the courtroom of Somoni district of Dushanbe, emphasizing that the consideration of the case by the court in an open format is one of the main guarantees of the right to a fair trial. However, the court of Somoni district considered that, in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Tajikistan, the case would be considered in open court, but in the hall of the pre-trial detention center, motivating such a decision by the fact that the case is widely covered in the media and that there is a possibility of a large number of citizens gathering in the building of the district court and these factors may prevent the correct and timely consideration of the case.

The criminal case against Chorshanbiev Ch. was initiated on December 30, 2021. He was charged with public calls for a violent change in the constitutional order in Tajikistan.