Uznews, Tashkent, 22 May 2009 – A Tashkent court has refused to satisfy Uzbek citizen German Treshalov’s suit filed against the Central Asian Unit of BBC Monitoring in Tashkent to demand compensation for withholding his pension book.
Treshalov, who used to work as BBC Monitoring’s IT specialist, is continuing litigations against the former employer, which, he thinks, first fired him illegally and later withheld his pension book.
Treshalov said that three years ago he and members of the Kazakh-language team of BBC Monitoring were fired illegally because of a personal disagreement with the head of the unit, Jamil Burna-Asefi.
Trying to reclaim his rights, Treshalov has repeatedly sought justice in Uzbek courts but, he said, Uzbek courts have failed to show fairness and faithfulness to principles to defend the interests of an Uzbek citizen.
In May the Tashkent city civil court refused to satisfy Treshalov’s claims against BBC Monitoring to the tune of 3 million sums for withholding his pension book for more than two years, during which, he said, he could not work, thus being deprived of earning a living.
Treshalov’s lawyer Askar Jumanov, who is his former colleague from BBC Monitoring, thinks that the trial was in favour of the defendant rather than his client.
For example, Justice Yekaterina Denisova violated the procedure by allowing lawyers from the Grata firm Otabek Sharipov and Bahodir Karimov to take part in the trial without licences.
“The city justice department has ordered all courts to issue licences to lawyers to allow them to take part in trials because the failure to buy licences means they avoid paying taxes,” a lawyer from the Uzlawyer.com legal assistance website said.
“Because of the reorganisation of the institution of the Bar, control has been weakened now but no-one has abolished licences. Many lawyers do this to maximise their profits,” the lawyer said.
In spring 2008 Treshalov sued BBC Monitoring for withholding his pension book, and in March 2009 he was awarded damages worth 1 million sums, which a court of appeal reduced to 50,000 sums.
What is the reason for such a big difference in judges’ assessments of the damage BBC Monitoring inflicted on Treshalov by withholding his pension book?
Jumanov said that he had understood the court of appeal’s decision to reduce damages later.
It has emerged that several days after Treshalov’s litigation against BBC Monitoring ended, the judge who heard the appeal, two other judges and the head of the Uchtepa district police department’s investigation directorate were detained by national security (SNB) officers on suspicion of receiving a bribe worth $3,000.
A police source said that a criminal case had been launched against the judges and the police chief.
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