Viktor Nikulin

The Tajik media continued to be haunted in 2003 by the devastating legacy of the 1992-1997 civil war, which pitted the People's Front, a paramilitary organization led by the current president, Imomali Rakhmonov, against a coalition of Islamic and nationalist groups. Because of widespread poverty--a result of the war, geographic isolation, and a string of natural disasters--reporters often work in run-down offices with outdated equipment. Only a small fraction of the population can afford to buy newspapers or access the Internet. Scared by the murders of dozens of their colleagues and the failure of authorities to solve them, journalists continue to limit their reporting to avoid official harassment and intimidation.

Dear Mr. Imomov:

Joel Simon, Josh Friedman, and I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you on July 21 to discuss the Committee to Protect Journalists' (CPJ) list of 29 journalists who were murdered during and after Tajikistan's civil war.

We believe very strongly that the only way the government of Tajikistan can combat the pervasive culture of fear and self-censorship lingering from the civil war is by aggressively investigating and prosecuting those responsible for these murders.

New York, July 29, 2003—Tajikistan's Supreme Court today convicted two suspects in the murders of Muhiddin Olimpur, head of the BBC's Persian Service bureau, and Viktor Nikulin, a correspondent with the Russian television network ORT, both of whom were killed during the country's civil war in the mid-1990s.

Narzibek Davlatov and Akhtam Toirov were sentenced to 15 and 22 years in prison, respectively, for serving as accomplices in the slayings. The two men were arrested in October 2001, and their trial began in June 2003.

Dushanbe, July 24, 2003—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the government of Tajikistan to combat the culture of fear and self-censorship lingering from its bloody 1992-1997 civil war by investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the murders of dozens of journalists during that period.

The delegation also called on the government to reverse its culture of secrecy by making its activities and deliberations more accessible to journalists and the public.

May 8, 2002
Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov
C/o Ambassador Rashid Alimov
Tajikistan Mission to the United Nations
136 East 67th Street
New York, N.Y. 10021

Via facsimile: (212) 472-7645

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Your Excellency:

Joel Simon and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you and Ambassador Rashid Alimov on April 19 to discuss press freedom conditions in Tajikistan.