DUSHANBE -- Prosecutors at the trial of noted Tajik journalist Abdullo Ghurbati have asked a court in Dushanbe to convict and sentence the defendant to the maximum allowed eight years in prison on charges he and his supporters say are unfounded.
Sources present at the hearing told RFE/RL that the request came as the Shohmansur district court resumed the trial behind closed doors on September 29.
Ghurbati is charged with publicly insulting an authority, the minor assault of an authority, and participating in the activities of an extremist group. The first two charges carry only fines, but the third charge carries a penalty of up to eight years in prison.
The latter charge is linked to Ghurbati's business relations with Tajik businessman Idibek Latipov, who has been living and working in Egypt since 2007.
Investigators say Ghurbati received money from Latipov for making a YouTube video advertising his company, while Latipov was included on the Tajikistan National Bank's registry of individuals involved in "terrorist or extremist activities."
According to the sources who talked to RFE/RL, Ghurbati told the court on September 29 that he was not aware that Latipov was on the registry and that his ties with the man were purely business-related.
Latipov told RFE/RL by phone that his inclusion on the National Bank’s registry was groundless.
Ghurbati and blogger Daleri Imomali, known for his articles critical of the government, were detained on June 15 and subsequently sent to pretrial detention for two months.
Imomali was charged with illegal entrepreneurship and premeditated false denunciation. His trial is pending.
In June, Human Rights Watch demanded that Tajik officials immediately release Ghurbati and Imomali, saying that the two men "are being targeted for their professional activities, despite being protected by Tajikistan’s laws and international obligations on freedom of expression and media freedom.”
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has been criticized by international human rights groups for years over his disregard for independent media, religious freedoms, civil society, and political pluralism in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic.