Azamat Ishenbekov, a presenter for the YouTube channel Ait Ait Dese, a sister project of the prominent anti-corruption investigative outlet Temirov Live, was sentenced on October 10, 2024, to five years in prison on charges of calling for mass unrest. As of late 2024, he was being held in Pretrial Detention Center No.1 in the capital Bishkek pending a ruling on his appeal, Bolot Temirov, the outlet’s exiled founder, told CPJ.
On January 16, 2024, police arrested Ishenbekov and 10 other current and former Ait Ait Dese and Temirov Live staff in dawn raids on their Bishkek homes. Officers also searched their office, confiscated computer equipment, and sealed the premises.
Authorities accused Temirov Live and Ait Ait Dese of “discrediting” the government in their videos and thereby “indirectly” calling for mass unrest, according to the court verdict, reviewed by CPJ. Defense lawyers said the prosecutors misapplied incitement legislation, which requires active calls to be made during actual unrest.
A local partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Temirov Live is known for investigating senior state officials including President Sadyr Japarov.
Ait Ait Dese converts Temirov Live’s investigations into traditional Kyrgyz poetry format, as well as producing its own current affairs content.
In 2022, authorities raided the outlet, unlawfully deported Temirov and banned him from Kyrgyzstan for five years. Overwhelming evidence suggested police planted drugs on the award-winning journalist in retaliation for his reporting.
In its October ruling, the Bishkek court also found three other Temirov Live journalists guilty of inciting unrest: Makhabat Tajibek kyzy (link to cap) was jailed for six years while Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov were given probationary sentences.
In its verdict, the court relied exclusively on video analyses by state-appointed expert linguists and political scientists. One former expert alleged that the experts’ analyses were dictated by security services.
Since Japarov came to power in 2020, authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press.
On November 25, 2024, the convicted Temirov Live journalists’ appeal got underway in Bishkek City Court. Local media reported that the presiding panel of judges included judges who issued the unlawful deportation order against Temirov.
CPJ’s emails to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan requesting comment on allegations of planting drugs on Temirov and to the State Committee for National Security on allegations of dictating expert testimony were not answered.