Kyrgyzstan sentences multiple regime critics
Two separate courts in Bishkek issued criminal verdicts against several independent media workers and a human rights activist this week. We urge Kyrgyzstan’s authorities to overturn these convictions, rehabilitate the defendants, and end retaliatory legal proceedings against government critics.
Found guilty on trumped-up charges
On 17 September, a district court in Bishkek found four former staff members of news outlet Kloop Media guilty of inciting mass disorder. Two of the defendants, videographers Joomart Duulatov and Alexander Alexandrov, were sentenced to five years each in a prison colony. Accountants Olesya Nesterenko and Elena Kojanova were were handed three-year probation terms. All four were arrested in late May.
During the trial the prosecution claimed it had found alleged ‘calls to mass disorder’ on a CD with videos produced by another news outlet, Temirov Live, which operates from outside Kyrgyzstan. Kloop Media and the defendants repeatedly denied committing or contributing to any crime.
Although the two news outlets often cooperate to expose corruption in Kyrgyzstan, Kloop Media never actually published the videos. The two accused videographers stated they hadn’t contributed to the production of the videos and the accountants denied making any payments related to them.
Independent news outlets under attack
Prosecution witnesses (‘state experts’ tasked with reviewing the videos) confirmed that the videos were produced by Temirov Live rather than the defendants, regional and international media reported. According to Kloop Media, the witnesses also struggled to identify which parts of the videos might ‘incite mass disorder’.
Both award-winning Kloop Media and Temirov Live are known for their investigative reporting, have been exposing high-level government corruption, and have faced retaliation from the authorities: from freezing bank accounts and forced liquidation to staff members being attacked, arrested and deported.
Found guilty of sharing a letter on Facebook
The day after the first verdict, another Bishkek district court found prominent human rights defender Rita Karasartova guilty of similar charges. She was handed a five-year suspended term and forced to pay a fine. Karasartova was arrested in April for a post on Facebook, in which she shared an opposition activist’s letter to his family after the activist had reportedly gone missing.
Kyrgyzstan’s National Security Agency classified the case, which meant outsiders were barred from viewing the case materials – including the evidence presented in court. The prosecution had requested a ten-year prison term for Karasartova.
Repression of critics must stop
That two separate courts issued guilty verdicts on vaguely-worded criminal charges, in cases that clearly lacked evidence of any crime, highlights how politicised and retaliatory Kyrgyzstan’s prosecution of government critics is.
As a signatory to multiple human rights mechanisms, including the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, the Kyrgyz government should take concrete steps to reverse this repression, stop prosecuting critics, and release all those imprisoned for exercising their civil and political rights.
