The Oktyabr (October) district court in Bishkek on February 9 issued a ruling to liquidate the Kloop Media Public Foundation, the main owner of the Kloop news agency, one of the leading independent media outlets in the country, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
The decision, which also affects the foundation’s journalism school, was made at the request of the Bishkek city prosecutor’s office, which said the foundation had “damaged the authorities’ reputation through its reports critical of the government” and those “encouraging people to relocate from border areas.”
The foundation’s lawyers said they planned to appeal the decision to the Bishkek City Court.
Kloop’s websites in Kyrgyz and Russian have been blocked since last fall at the request of the Culture Ministry following a claim by the State Committee of National Security (UKMK) that the media outlet distributed false information about a jailed opposition politician who said he was tortured while in custody.
The Culture Ministry demanded that Kloop remove the article from its site, which the outlet refused to do, saying that the story in question attributed all information about the situation faced by the politician while in custody to actual individuals and sources. Established in June 2007, the Kloop website (kloop.kg) is known for publishing reports on corruption in various governmental bodies and providing training to Central Asian journalists on fact-checking and investigative techniques through the Kloop Media Public Foundation School of Journalism, whose students and graduates contribute to the site.
