The Tashkent City Court will consider a request by prosecutors seeking to shutdown the office of the U.S.-based human rights organization Freedom House in Uzbekistan on Monday, March 6, a source with the city prosecutor\'s office told Interfax on Saturday. On February 10, the Tashkent City Court civil board ruled to suspend Freedom House\'s activities in Uzbekistan for half a year, until July 11, 2006. In addition, a criminal case was opened on February 10 against a number of Freedom House employees on charges of operating without a license. The criminal case was dropped on February 24 under an amnesty proclaimed by the Uzbek Senate at the end of 2005. The Tashkent City Court\'s civil board on October 28, 2005, received a request from the Justice Ministry that the organization\'s activities be suspended for half a hear, based on violations the ministry says it uncovered while monitoring the organization. In particular, the Justice Ministry blamed the Freedom House office for violating the law On Non-governmental Organizations. On May 28, 2005, the organization held a training seminar for members of human rights organizations from the Samarkand, Jizak, and Bukhara regions without securing permission from the registration agency, in which members of unregistered human rights organizations took part, it said. In addition, the Freedom House office in Uzbekistan in June 2005 completed a project on protecting the rights of local non-governmental organizations and promoting their registration with Justice Ministry agencies. To this end, the British Embassy in Tashkent first allocated $15,000 then $17,000 to pay fees for the lawyers involved in the project and to finance the payment of registration fees, the rent of offices, and housing and utilities. However, according to the Justice Ministry, the Freedom House office refused to disclose information on the use of property and financial resources and to submit financial and accounting reports, which is a violation of the law. The Freedom House office also provided access to the Internet to a wide range of users without a license, it said. (Interfax)