Kyrgyzstan has been rated as “not free” by Freedom House in its global freedom index for three consecutive years. In general, Kyrgyzstan has declined in terms of indicators of freedoms in the country and lost 12 points in the last decade. However, despite arrests and pressure on the media and civic activists, the leadership of the republic continues to deny any discrimination against freedom of speech in the country.
The editorial staff of “Azattyk Media” must cease its activity in Kyrgyzstan. This is the decision made on April 27 by the district court of Bishkek. In autumn 2022, the authorities blocked the website of “Azattyk” because of the publication about the conflict in the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. And in January 2023, the ministry of culture filed a suit.
Repressive justice, dubious linguistic examinations, as well as the vagueness of laws are three most important factors, which are successfully used by the state, on the one hand, and deprive the media community and common citizens of an opportunity to be justified by legal means, on the other hand, according to media expert Azamat Tynai.
“By results of numerous sociological surveys, our courts have been repeatedly recognised as one of the most corrupted, non-transparent and controllable bodies,” Tynai said. “It’s about the telephone justice, when calls are made from above. The number of acquittals in Kyrgyzstan is low. The quality of examinations, which are used for court decisions, cannot withstand scrutiny. As to the law, we all are victims of very vague definitions.”
When speaking of the human rights protection situation in Kyrgyzstan on April 18 at the parliament, ombudsman Atyr Abrakhmatova declared the deterioration of the situation, and reminded that “alternative opinion and the opportunity to express it freely is the fundamental right of free speech.”
She indicated the need to bring journalists involved in the attack to justice and recommended to refrain from adopting legislative initiatives that can affect the freedom of speech and freedom of expression. She also provided data on all procedural violations of human rights in almost all criminal cases against journalists, bloggers and activists – presumption of innocence, secrecy of investigation, equality and competition of parties, comprehensive, complete and impartial study of merits of the case.
However, the reaction of people’s representatives was unexpected – the ombudsman’s report was interrupted and parliamentarians proposed to consider early termination of her powers instead of discussion of questions and seeking possible solutions.
The press service of the president almost immediately responded to Abdrakhmatova’s statement.
“There are no restrictions of the freedom of speech,” said press secretary Erbol Sultanov. “Everyone can expresses one’s opinion. The Maksim Gorky Square has become the place for protests. People can hold protests there any time, and protesters can speak up freely and live broadcast. Journalists and bloggers spread their words. We don’t have any limitation of the freedom of speech. The ombudsman protects those who wanted to destabilise the situation in the country. That’s her attitude to the situation, probably.”
In response to the attacks on the ombudsman, over 60 activists, journalists and public figures asked parliamentarians, president and international organisations to protect Atyr Abdrakhmatova against pressure and let her continue her work.
“Ombudsman is not someone’s whim, it’s one of the democratic achievements of sovereign Kyrgyzstan. Representation of the report, as follows from the Constitution and the law “On ombudsman (akyikatchi)”, is not an activity report, it’s information about the challenges that accumulated over the year in this sphere. Therefore, listening to the report is the obligation of parliamentarians, and the failure to do so disputes the inviolability of the constitutional provision and shows the indifference of parliamentarians to the matter of observance of human rights in Kyrgyzstan,” according to the statement.
A little earlier, on April 1, the cabinet of ministers initiated the laying of the so-called “Freedom of speech” alley in Bishkek and invited representatives of all media resources in the country to attend the ceremony. Officials from the administration, representatives of press services of state bodies, state-run media, and some international donor organisations expectedly attended the ceremony.
“Our country cannot be deprived of the freedom of speech as it is in each of us,” said Daiyrbek Orunbekov, head of information policy service of the president, during the ceremony.
But the media community is willing to argue over this statement.
“The planted trees symbolising the ‘freedom of speech’ in a given spot in Kyrgyzstan can express their opinion freely without the fear of punitive consequences. […] Troll farms have unleashed the campaign of persecution against independent media, journalists and bloggers on social media. Civic activists are being fined for their posts and statements,” according to the statement of the association of independent journalists “Platform of Media Actions in Kyrgyzstan.”
From fines to imprisonment
At the end of August 2022, a 19-year-old second-year student of the Law Academy and public social media account administrator “Polit Uznik”, Yrys Zhekshenaliev, was detained on a charge of calls to mass disorders. The reason for the arrest was the two-year-old video message of ex-head of GKNB Abdil Segizbaev on the sale of the mine in Naryn region. The blogger’s attorneys stated the charge was absurd based on the constitutional provisions.
“Article 33 reads that everyone has a right to freely seek and spread information verbally or in writing. I think his constitutional rights were violated,” said his attorney, Chingiz Ibraev (as cited by mediazona.ca).
But despite the numerous calls of parliamentarians and human rights defenders to stop the criminal case, the investigation over Zhekshenaliev is still ongoing. At the end of October 2022, the blogger was moved to house arrest. In early April 2023, it became known that state prosecution asked to sentence the student to six years in prison. Zhekshenaliev wrote an open letter to the president, in which he said that he did not make any calls, asked to stop the persecution and to give him an opportunity to continue his study.
Later on, he wrote on his Facebook page that the court session on his case was scheduled for May 15, 2023.
On the day of the ombudsman’s speech in the parliament, it became known that independent journalist Semetei Talas uulu was found guilty of distribution of extremist materials. The main topic of his materials was organised crime and corruption. He also criticised the leadership of the country on social media and wrote about increased pressure on freedom of speech and illegal detentions of politicians and civic activists. He was placed on probation for one year.
On April 19, civic activist Adilet Ali Myktybek was released from colony No. 27 by resolution of the Supreme Court. In January 2023, the city court sentenced him to five years in prison on a charge of calls to mass disorders. The charge of the blogger was not dismissed – the Supreme Court just re-entered the resolution of the first instance into force and ordered probation for three years.
Before being called to police questioning in June 2022, he was actively participating in various campaigns and covered political events in Kyrgyzstan and was more known on social media as Adilet Baltabai. The blogger called charges against him the pressure on freedom of speech, and pleaded not guilty.
Approximately at the same time, it became known that the detention of some of 26 defendants, who still remain in pre-trial detention facility No. 1, in the so-called “Kempir-Abad case” was prolonged until June 20, 2023. They were detained in October 2022 on the same charge – calls to mass disorders and the coup. On April 12, the district court changed the restraint to house arrest for the seven of them.
One of the detained, blogger Atai Beishenbek, who did not even attend the sessions of the so-called committee to protect Kempir-Abad, was charged this January under three more articles of the criminal code – organisation or management of illegal takeover of residential or non-residential premises, participation in mass disorders accompanied by violence, bashings, arsons, property destruction, use of firearms (both charges relate to the October 2020 events), as well as large-scale fraud. However, the last case was dismissed by the police in 2022 for lack of evidence.
Less freedom
According to the annual report “Freedom in the world” published in March by Freedom House, Kyrgyzstan’s status declined by one score in the global freedom index. In 2021, the country scored 28 of 100 possible, in 2022 – 27. From 2009, the country was among “partly free” countries, but since 2021, Kyrgyzstan, according to the index, moved to the category of “not free” countries. In 10 years, the country lost 12 scores, according to the survey.
According to the Human Rights Watch, Kyrgyz “authorities restricted critical voices and civil society” throughout 2022.
“Press freedom came under siege with a spate of criminal cases against independent journalists, bloggers, and the media,” according to the report.
And according to the report of Amnesty International on the condition of human rights in the world, Kyrgyzstan faced “gradual restriction of freedom of expression, especially among media workers and human rights defenders” throughout 2022.
“Serious restrictions were imposed on holding peaceful protests. New types of reporting were introduced for NGOs funded from abroad. Journalists and activists criticising authorities faced attacks on social media and unjustified prosecutions. Various laws applied to restrict freedom of expression and not to allow criticism of public figures by journalists and the media. […] Conditions of detention did not meet minimum human rights standards, which caused deaths of people in some cases,” according to the research.
Not only representatives of the media sphere or NGO, but also regular users of social media now face real risks of being detained or paying fines by court order in Kyrgyzstan. The lawyers of “Media Policy Institute” now have nearly dozen of criminal cases initiated under articles “Incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious and interregional hatred” and “Calls for mass disorders”. They were all initiated for posts on social media.
Moreover, according to human rights defenders, the articles of the Criminal Code have vague concepts, with no clear definition in the law. The resulting overly broad interpretation makes them an easy tool of pressure against citizens for their opinions and statements.