Watchdog

Tajik authorities have banned a play on the eve of the spring festival Norouz, RFE/RL's Tajik service reports.

The play, "Madness '93," was written by Tajik author Barzu Abdurazzoqov and was inspired by the writings of French politician Jean-Paul Marat during the French Revolution before his murder in 1793.

Abdurazzoqov told RFE/RL that the play premiered at the Mayakovsky Theater in Dushanbe on March 17 and was attended by ambassadors from Britain, Russia, and Germany.

Abdurazzoqov said the Ministry of Culture did not give any reasons for its decision to ban the play, but he thinks it is likely that the Tajik authorities saw parallels between the themes of the play and Tajikistan's civil war of the mid-1990s.

Abdurazzoqov also said that it is not the first time his work has been banned, and that he might consider leaving the country.

Officials at the Ministry of Culture told RFE/RL that the play was banned only during the celebration of Norouz between March 21 and 23, and that performances will resume after that.

A TV crew was attacked in Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serb Republic (Republika Srpska) while trying to film a Serbian Orthodox Church in the southeastern town of Trebinje, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reports.

Two men assaulted the TV crew led by Slobodan Vaskovic, an investigative journalist working for the political show "60 Minutes" on state-run TV.

The crew fled from the attackers, seeking shelter at the office of a local NGO.

Police escorted them out of the town, but Vaskovic reported later that a car followed them and someone smashed their window with stones.

The Serbian Orthodox Church condemned the journalists for "their inappropriate behavior that upset believers in the church."

The Helsinki Committee for Bosnia-Herzegovina president, Srdjan Dizdarevic, told RFE/RL that most attacks against journalists in the country are ordered by politicians or religious leaders.

Vaskovic said he had received death threats before he went to Trebinje, but pledged to continue his journalistic activities despite the threats.