Kyrgyzstan: Rise in Criminal Cases Against Journalists

Following a motion by the Prosecutor General, a Bishkek district court on March 29, 2022 found that a privately owned media outlet, Next TV, had acted "extremist" by reposting a commentary by a Ukrainian media outlet, Ukraine Now. In the post, Kyrgyzstan was implied to be supporting the Russian forces in Ukraine. Taalaibek Duishenbiev, the director of Next TV, has been ordered to pretrial detention on charges of inciting interethnic hatred by reposting the commentary.

The State Committee on National Security (SCNS) launched a criminal investigation into Next TV on March 3 for reposting the article. The police raided the office, arrested Duishenbiev, seized equipment, and finally sealed it off. The prosecutor and the security agency may both bring charges, but the security agency focuses on threats to national security.

Duishenbiev was ordered to serve two months of pretrial detention by a Pervomaiskiy district court on March 5, for reposting the commentary on the channel's social media platforms. Duishenbiev could face up to seven years in prison if convicted. A Bishkek city court affirmed the district court's decision to detain individuals pending trial on March 24. The decision cannot be appealed.

The lawyers of Next TV appealed the decision to seal off the outlet's office. However, on March 22, the district court dismissed the appeal, denying staff at the outlet access to equipment and materials required for their work.

Also on March 22, the Prosecutor General's Office submitted its motion to the same Pervomaiskiy district court requesting that a declaration be made that the reposting of the commentary was "extreme." The Prosecutor General's Office also sought an order prohibiting Next TV from operating or distributing its media products on other online and offline news platforms.

The district court ruled on March 29 that the reposting was "extremist," but it denied the motion to restrict the outlet's activities. Attorneys for the station are appealing the "extremist" decision to the Bishkek city court.

Atyr Abdrakhmatova, the Kyrgyz Ombudsperson, called on the courts to investigate the legality of the security services' closure of Next TV's office on March 5.

Next TV is the third media outlet targeted by Kyrgyz authorities in recent months. On February 1, the Pervomaiskiy district attorney's office initiated a criminal investigation into the posting by Kaktus.Media of an article by Asia Plus, a Tajik news outlet, about a skirmish on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on January 27. According to the Tajik article, Kyrgyz soldiers fired the first shots, which caused Tajik military response.

The prosecutor's office stated that these allegations constituted a criminal offence under Criminal Code Article 407, "propaganda of war" and dissemination of information aimed at "provoking aggression of one country against another or inciting a war." The investigation is still ongoing. 

Bishkek police detained on January 22 an investigative journalist, Bolot Temirov, director of Temirov Live, an independent online outlet, and former co-host of Factcheck.KG, which dispels false assertions and propaganda, on charges of illegal drug manufacture. Additionally, the police searched his office and confiscated computer processors, hard drives, and documents. Temirov was released the same day, with instructions not to leave the country. Temirov claims that the drugs discovered during the search were planted.

Many in the Kyrgyz media view this case as a form of reprisal for his team's investigation into dubious fuel export schemes related to the State Committee for National Security. Just two days before the authorities raided his office and arrested him, the outlet's YouTube channel featured a report about the investigation.

Kyrgyzstan's Institute of Media Policy described the drug manufacturing charges against Temirov Live and the call for an investigation into Kaktus Media's reposting as a "massive attack" on freedom of expression on January 31, 2016. The issue was addressed in an open letter signed by dozens of journalists, media outlets, and expert organizations on February 15.

Investigative journalists and independent media outlets are being harassed at the same time as efforts to censor freedom of speech are being made. In its report dated February 21, the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Politics submitted a draft decree to implement the law on protection from false information, which was signed by President Sadyr Japarov on August 23, 2021. According to Human Rights Watch, the law paves the way for state-managed censorship and is in violation of Kyrgyzstan's national and international human rights obligations.

According to the draft decree, a person alleging that information has been published on an outlet's website or social media page may request that the content be removed. In the event that they refuse, the person would have the right to request that a Communications Regulation and Supervision Service within the Ministry of Digital Development suspend the website or page for up to two months.