Eight international human rights groups have called on the Kyrgyz government to stop its crackdown on independent media after 11 journalists were detained in a move the watchdogs said was aimed at “intimidating and harassing” journalists to keep them from carrying out their work, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
In a statement dated January 16, Civil Rights Defenders, Human Rights Watch, the International Partnership for Human Rights, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, People in Need, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, and the World Organization Against Torture urged the Kyrgyz authorities to respect freedom of the press and cease their repressive actions.
The statement came the same day Kyrgyz police detained 11 former and current reporters of Temirov Live investigative group and its Ait Ait Dese project after searching their homes and offices on a charge of “calls for disobedience and mass riots” over the group’s reporting.
On January 17, a Bishkek court put the 11 journalists in pretrial custody for two months.
On January 15, the State Committee for National Security briefly detained for questioning the director and two editors of the independent 24.kg news agency after searching their homes and offices in a case of “propagating war” because of the outlet’s coverage of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The joint statement by the human rights groups calls on the Kyrgyz authorities “to take immediate and decisive steps to bring the country’s respect for press freedom in accordance with its international obligations, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
Kyrgyz authorities “should immediately cease their repressive actions against independent media outlets and journalists and allow them to report on events in the country and the rest of the world without fear of retribution,” the joint statement says.
