BISHKEK. A resident of the capital city of Bishkek, K.Tursunaliev filed an appeal at the Lenin district court in Bishkek against an independent newspaper 'Moya stolitsa'. He considers an article titled "May be, Mum gave a birth on Monday" written by Rina Prizhivoit wounded his national dignity. He asked the court to fine the newspaper for 1 mln soms, and the author - for 50,000 soms. The same court today passed a verdict against the newspaper, fining it for 50,000 soms. Gennady Kuzmin, the author of an article entitled "The Family Has Gone Onto the Mountain (or: onto the Hill top), the Family Has Found Money", published on November 28, 2002, has to pay 2,000 soms to the plaintiff, the State Committee For State Property Management and For Attracting Investments. A court hearing on another court case against the independent newspaper will start on January 21, 2003.
The chief editor of the newspaper, Aleksander Kim, told RFERL today that the paper published several articles on alleged corruption. One of them was on the alleged involvement of President Askar Akayev's family member. Kim said that the cases are politically motivated and the court verdicts orchestrated by the Government leadership are unjust.
The chief editor of the newspaper, Aleksander Kim, told RFERL today that the paper published several articles on alleged corruption. One of them was on the alleged involvement of President Askar Akayev's family member. Kim said that the cases are politically motivated and the court verdicts orchestrated by the Government leadership are unjust.