Detention of a number of Kyrgyz journalists for the crime of coup attempt

According to the Fars news agency reporter in Tashkent, following the announcement of a coup attempt by some Kyrgyz media, the security organizations of this country, in addition to arresting some employees of these media, also sealed their offices.

Accordingly, in the past few days, the employees of the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior arrested more than a dozen former and current employees of the media related to the Internet platforms “Ait-Ait-Disse” and “Temirov Live” that were created in the wake of the coup in this country. were interrogated.

According to the Klopp news agency, the police “Mohbet Taji Beyk Qezi”, the manager of the Internet platforms “Ait Ait Disse” and “Temirov Live” and several other journalists Residents of “Bishkek” including “Ezemat Ishinbekov” were interrogated in “Toghmak”. During his arrest, he stated that the actions of the security forces are related to the articles published about “Ulan Niazbekov”, the Minister of the Interior of Kyrgyzstan, and “Nadre Narmatova”, a member of parliament.

Also, according to the local media, “Tinistan Dhambykov”, a journalist of “PolitKlinika” magazine, said that his house was also searched. According to the representative of this media, the actions of the police are related to a criminal case regarding the call for riots. Ayat Disse” and “Temirov Live” are based on Section 3 of Article 278 (“Invitation to actively disobey the legal requests of government officials and public riots, such as incitement to violence against citizens”) of the Criminal Code of the Republic.

According to the investigators, on December 30 of last year, during the monitoring of one of the social networks of this publication, reports calling for unrest were detected. On January 12, during a forensic linguistics test, it was concluded that these materials contain signs of a call for protests, and in this regard, this organization carried out special measures and inspections. Meanwhile, it is not clear which article is meant. They took the seal and the equipment with them. The heads of the magazine were taken for questioning and kept at the police station for several hours. It is known that a case has been filed against this media on the charge of propagandizing for a coup. But it is not clear which article led to the criminal prosecution.

In this context, the media representatives and media organizations of Kyrgyzstan supported their colleagues. Journalists are outraged by the fact that the editorial investigation lasted more than an hour and a half without a lawyer present, raising questions about possible abuse of power by the investigating authorities. It is also said that the operation of the news agency was hindered by confiscating computers and other equipment.

The authors of this report summarize: We consider the search in the office of “kg.24” as an undue interference in the rights Not only media workers, but in general, we consider the rights of citizens to freedom of expression and access to information. It has been operating since 2006. More than 70% of the reports published on the site consist of information from government organizations. Editorial journalists cover events from different perspectives.

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