Last week, prosecutors in Kyrgyzstan asked that the 11 journalists arrested in January and put on trial in June on charges of organizing mass unrest be convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.
A verdict is expected on October 3.
The 11 journalists and media personnel – Saparbek Akunbekov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Aike Beishekeeva, Joodar Buzumov, Azamat Ishenbekov, Aktilek Kaparov, Akyl Orozbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Makhabat Tajibek-kyzy, Maksat Tajibek-uulu, and Jumabek Turdaliev – are mostly current or former journalists with the Temirov Live investigative group, as well as its sister project Ait Ait Dese, Archa Media, and PoliKlinika.
Four of the journalists, including Makhabat Tajibek-kyzy, the wife of Temirov Live’s founder Bolot Temirov, have been in pre-trial detention since January 16. The remainder had been released to house arrest.
The case has come to define Kyrgyzstan’s autocratic slide under President Sadyr Japarov, which has featured also the passage of a “foreign representatives” law and the proposal of a new law imposing exorbitant fines for spreading “slander” and another regarding “false information.” Media have long been under fire in the country, epitomized by the forced closure of Kloop – which nevertheless continues to operate.
Speaking in court, Tajibek-kyzy argued that the journalists have worked hard exposing corruption in Kyrgyzstan. “Based on the facts of our investigations, many corruptors and criminals are in prison today,” she noted.
Temirov Live, for example, is a partner of the Organize Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which orchestrated the reporting on Raimbek Matriaimov that arguably has led to his current detention. (Never mind the small detail that he has been arrested before by the Kyrgyz government on corruption charges and released.)
Several media freedom and human rights organizations have spoke out stridently in defense of the detained journalists.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Kyrgyz authorities to drop the charges. “The conviction of even a single one of the 11 Temirov Live investigative journalists on such clearly contrived and retaliatory charges would deal a further severe blow to Kyrgyzstan’s international reputation,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
But Japarov has a different view. In a September 28 interview with state media outlet Kabar, Japarov pushed back on criticism of shrinking space for the freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan. “Freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan exists, has existed and will exist,” he said. “As for the 11 journalists, only two of them are real journalists,” he added, questioning the education level of the accused. “How can one deny the fact that they were paid some money to sit on social media and spread false information calling for riots? Once again, false information calling for riots is not part of free speech.”
The trial, which began on June 7, has been held behind closed doors, with the judge prohibiting photograph and video recording. What articles or reports form the basis of the alleged crime have not been specified publicly, nor has it been clarified whether and how their journalistic work called for or inspired riots.
According to CPJ:
Case materials reviewed by CPJ allege that videos by Temirov Live, a partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and sister outlet Ait Ait Dese “discredit” the government and contain “indirect” and “subtextual” calls for mass unrest. Akmat Alagushev, lawyer for two of the journalists, told CPJ that the charges are “absurd,” saying that prosecutors’ resorting to the term “indirect calls,” which lacks basis in Kyrgyz legislation, shows that investigators were unable to find any actual calls for mass unrest in the outlets’ publications.
Kyrgyz human rights defender Rita Karasartova, who attended the trial, told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service: “They demand six years in prison for each journalist. For what? Is journalism a crime?” Epitomizing fears of Kyrgyz journalists and human rights defenders more broadly, she added, “Is it a crime to compile journalistic materials, investigate, publish the investigation results, write about it? Is it a crime to criticize authorities?”
Lawyer Ulanbek Seyitbekov told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service that the charges against the journalists were not legal: “The charges are superficial and without evidence. There is not a word about the form of their sins.”
Aktilek Kaparov, one of the charged journalists, expressed confusion, saying that he could not understand why the prosecutors were charging them for their work. “The prosecutors told us: They collected material for their articles, and then published it, saying that they received money for this [referring to a salary].
“This is the same as saying that the sun is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Should we judge winter for coldness and summer for heat?”