Tajik Prison Rioters Get Extended Jail Terms
August 1, 2006 -- A regional court in Tajikistan has sentenced 16 defendants to additional jail time for triggering a prison riot in the southwestern town of Qorghan-Teppa in 2005.
The Khatlan regional court on July 31 ruled that the main organizer of the unrest, Bahodur Abdulmajidov, who was an inmate, be given an additional jail term of 29 years and that he should serve it in a high-security penal colony.
Eleven other prisoners received additional jail terms of between six and 25 years.
The court also sentenced four prison wardens to two to three years in jail for negligence.
Abdulmajidov's lawyer told reporters the defendants will appeal the court's verdict within 10 days.
The trial began on May 24.
(Asia-Plus, Avesta)
Gulnara Abikaeyeva's June 29 presentation in Prague (RFE/RL)
EAST OF THE WEST: On June 29, RFE/RL's Prague broadcasting center hosted a presentation by
GULNARA ABIKEYEVA, director of the Central Asian Cinematography Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Abikeyeva is a leading expert on Kazakh and Central Asian cinema, a chairwoman of the jury of this year's East Of The West section of the Karlovy Vary film festival. Abikaeyeva gave an overview of major trends in Central Asian cinema since the 1960s. Abikeyeva has just completed a major DVD collection of the most popular films of the five Central Asian countries and is now beginning work on a similar collection of Central Asian documentaries.
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