Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Kyrgyzstan to drop unsubstantiated, politically motivated charges against independent journalists.
Journalists from several independent local media outlets, including YouTube-based Temirov LIVE and Ayt Ayt Dese, face up to six years in prison, with a final verdict of the Lenin District Court of Bishkek expected to be delivered on October 3. Amnesty International’s acting director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Denis Krivosheev, said, “We reiterate our urgent call on the Kyrgyzstani authorities to release all those detained and drop the baseless charges against them. Temirov LIVE, Ayt Ayt Dese and all other independent media should be able to operate freely and safely.”
A group of journalists from Temirov LIVE and its partner project Ayt Ayt Dese, alongside journalists from other media outlets, were arrested following house raids on January 16v. as part of a criminal investigation under Article 278, part 3 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code. The 11 journalists were arrested on the charge of calling for mass riots, civil disobedience and violence.
Four out of the 11 journalists, Mahabat Tazhibek-kyzy, head of Temirov LIVE, Aike Beyshekeeva, Temirov LIVE’s fact-checker, Azmat Ishenbekov, Ayt Ayt Dese employee, and Aktilek Kaparov of Alga Media have been held in pretrial detention since their arrest. The remainder of the accused are under house arrest. The founder of Temirov LIVE, Bolot Temirov, was deported to Russia in 2022 after being stripped of his Kyrgyzstani citizenship and banned from entering the country for five years.
Prior to the journalists’ arrests, media outlets had published a “series of investigations into alleged government corruption,” which reportedly prompted the charges. Krivosheev denounced the charges, noting, “These charges are nothing more than a politically motivated attempt to stifle free expression and punish journalists for their work,” subsequently noting that silencing journalists was an “unforgivable attack of the human right to freedom of expression” and undermined Kyrgyzstan’s international obligations.
Earlier this year, the government of Kyrgyzstan proposed amendments to the Criminal Code. The draft law suggested amendments to a provision to criminalize the possession of “extremist” materials, with the imposition of prison sentences of up to three years. Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed concern that a broad application of this law could “weaponiz[e] the criminal code” against dissenting voices such as political opponents, journalists, and human rights defenders.
Amnesty International, HRW, and the Committee to Protect Journalists have consistently expressed concerns regarding the suppression of dissenting voices in Kyrgyzstan. In 2023, HRW admonished Kyrgyz authorities’ move to close down a nonprofit body and independent online news outlet, Kloop Media Public Foundation, considering the decision a continuation of “a repressive trend against freedom of expression.” In September 2024, HRW and Amnesty International were among the international human rights organizations petitioning Kyrgyzstan to overturn the forced closure decision.
