ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A documentary by jailed Tajik journalist Abdullo Ghurbati has won the top prize at the Baiqonyr International Short Film Festival in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty.
Ghurbati's documentary Too Big was recognized as the best of 17 works presented at the festival, which ran from September 7 to September 11.
The documentary chronicles the life of a 13-year-old boy, Abdurahman, who is unable to go to school due to economic hardships and has to work pushing a cart at a market.
Ghurbati was arrested in June and placed in pretrial detention on a charge of beating a police officer at the Shohmansur police station in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. He was charged later with having links to the banned Islamic Renaissance of Tajikistan (IRPT) party.
The 26-year-old journalist and his relatives have insisted that the charges are baseless. The IRPT has said that the journalist has nothing to do with the party.
The assault charge could see him jailed for up to two years.
Human Rights Watch has demanded that Dushanbe immediately release Ghurbati and blogger Daleri Imomali, who was arrested along with the documentary-maker, calling the charges against them "bogus."
