Lawsuits  were launched against four leading newspapers following a Dushanbe court’s decision to uphold a damages award against independent news weekly Paykon.  The damages award of 300,000 somoni (€49,000) was confirmed on 26 January. Paykon published an open letter to President Emomali Rakhmon from a number of businessmen accusing Tajikstandart, a government agency, of corruption and incompetency. Nuriddin Qarshiboev, the chairman of Tajikistan’s Association of Independent Media, predicted the media would be targeted in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 28.