On August 26, the US embassy to Tajikistan held a press conference for local and foreign journalists. The subject of the press conference was the closure of a printing company, which caused Ruzi Nav, Nadjot, Odam Olam and Nerui Sukhan newspapers to stop publishing two weeks ago. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Richard Hoagland mentioned in his statement: “Since Tajikistan decided to integrate into the democratic community, we shall, from time to time, remind Tajik authorities about fundamental democratic principles, which leave no possibility to take any restrictive measures against dissidents, as it was done during the Soviet period”. The ambassador characterized actions of the authorities as “the use of the law for political purposes”.

He also noted that they got no response from the authorities so far, but still hope for positive results. He also informed that they plan to buy a printing office, and probably they will do it in conjunction with other UN bodies.