The closure of Azattyk is a frightening signal to the country’s independent media

2023-04-28 09:08:31

The international non-governmental organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the decision of the Leninsky District Court of Bishkek, which on April 27 upheld the claim of the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy to close Azattyk as a media outlet. CPJ published their appeal on the organization’s website.

Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, said the Azattyk closure sends “a chilling signal to the country’s independent media and raises serious questions about the direction in which the Kyrgyz authorities want to take their country.”

Said called on the Kyrgyz authorities to immediately reverse this decision and allow the online publication to operate freely.

The Ministry of Culture filed a lawsuit against Azattyk in January 2023. The department stated that the actions of Azattyk contradict Article 23 of the law “On the Mass Media”, according to which the media does not allow propaganda of war, violence and cruelty, national, religious exclusivity and intolerance towards other peoples and nations.

The reason for the lawsuit against Azattyk was the release of the program “Present Time. Asia” of September 16, 2022 about the conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border under the title “Heavy fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan”. The same issue became the reason for the indefinite blocking of the Azattyk website.

The publication’s lawyers said they would appeal the decision of the Leninsky District Court to the Bishkek City Court.

In addition to blocking the website of the publication, earlier the commercial bank DemirBank, at the request of the State Committee for National Security and without a court decision, blocked access to the bank account of Azattyk Media. The bank said that the account of the organization was blocked on the basis of the law on money laundering.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jamie Fly said the outlet “takes its commitment to balanced reporting seriously” and described the move as “a persecution of the free media.”