Several people associated with investigative news outlet Kloop were detained for questioning on May 28 and 29 in Kyrgyzstan. Although the State Committee for National Security (SCNS or GKNB) has not commented on the case, the head of the presidential press service, Daiyrbek Orunbekov, took to Facebook to allege without evidence that the journalists – mostly young women – had been financed by Bolot Temirov “to conduct false investigations.”
Temirov, who runs a different investigative outlet, has long been a target for the Kyrgyz authorities, including the 2022 revocation of his Kyrgyz citizenship and his deportation to Russia.
Orunbekov, himself a former journalist once sued by then-President Almazbek Atambayev for offending his “honor and dignity” by making wild allegations about the president’s role in stoking ethnic conflict, offered no evidence to support his recent accusation against the journalists. But he did share mug shots.
A 2016 Global Voice article outlining Orunbekov’s loss in a countersuit against Atambayev offered this assessment of his work at the time: “Few would call Orunbekov’s articles responsible journalism – they lack balance and proper sourcing and tend towards hyperbole – but there is a feeling he has been picked on in an attempt by the government to bring the media into line.”
In his recent Facebook post, Orunbekov claimed that the Kloop journalists had admitted to “carrying out Temirov’s illegal instructions” and had “refused to cooperate with him further.” He said they confessed to “spreading false information and writing hit pieces against the state.”
“Both Temirov and Kloop founder Rinat Tukhvatshin called the claims lies,” reported the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which has long partnered with Kloop on some of the most consequential investigative reports to emerge from Kyrgyzstan in the last decade. OCCRP quoted each of them:
“They’re trying to fabricate a case to suit this person’s sick fantasies,” Temirov told OCCRP, referring to Orunbekov. “I don’t even know most of those journalists.”
“All detained reporters are Kloop journalists or their friends. As far as I know, they never worked with Bolot,” Tukhvatshin added.
Several comments below Orunbekov’s May 29 Facebook post note the journalists’ young ages (which range from 23 to 28) and question why a representative of the presidential administration is commenting on the case before a court weighs in. “Only the court makes the final decision. Therefore, it is wrong to blame one-sidedly,” one commenter wrote.
As of May 29, two people – Kloop cameraman Alexander Alexandrov and former Kloop employee Zhoomart Duulatov – had been detained for two days, reportedly on suspicion of calling for mass riots. Two other journalists, Aidai Erkebaeva and Zyyagul Bolot kyzy, and a former employee, Zara Sadygalieva, were released, as were two unnamed women apparently detained alongside their friends. Abdil Aitbay Tegin, who Kloop reported was an employee but not a journalist, was taken for questioning on May 29.
Tukhvatshin characterized the detentions as effectively kidnappings, noting that the journalists were denied access to lawyers.
When Kyrgyz authorities last took a broad swipe at the country’s journalists – with a series of raids in January 2024 – they, too, were charged with making “calls for mass unrest.” The gist of the government’s argument is that critical reporting is essentially destabilizing, that journalism is a threat to the state. Of the 11 journalists charged, four were convicted – two received prison sentences, two probation – and seven were acquitted due to a lack of evidence in October 2024.
Three of the journalists convicted in that case had their appeals denied by the Supreme Court in February 2025, leaving in place a six-year prison term for Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, director of Temirov Live (and Bolot Temirov’s wife), a five-year prison term for presenter Azamat Ishenbekov, and a five-year suspended sentence for reporter Aike Beishekeyeva.
It appears the Kyrgyz authorities are pursing a similar tack against Kloop, which was ordered to liquidate last year in a court decision upheld by the country’s Supreme Court.