Kyrgyzstan / Europe & Central Asia

New York, October 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the reversal of an October 27 court decision in Kyrgyzstan declaring the publications of investigative outlets Temirov Live and Kloop “extremist.” The same decision has designated the activity of CPJ’s 2025 International Press Freedom Award winner and Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov, and Kloop founder Rinat Tuhvatshin, as “extremist.”…

New York, September 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s sentencing of journalists Joomart Duulatov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov to five-year prison terms in Kyrgyzstan and calls for their immediate release.  Duulatov and Aleksandrov, who worked as camera operators for investigative outlet Kloop, were detained on May 28 on charges of calling for mass unrest over videos produced by…

New York, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding journalist Azimjon Askarov’s death, ahead of the fifth anniversary of his passing on Friday.    Authorities have stated that Askarov died in prison on July 25, 2020, from complications related to COVID-19. But they have failed…

New York, July 15, 2025—President Sadyr Japarov signed amendments to the Kyrgyz Code of Offenses on July 8, introducing administrative penalties for spreading “false or unreliable” information via mass media or the internet — another in a series of ongoing moves toward cracking down on the country’s independent press. The law, whose signing was announced July 11, will go…

New York, July 11, 2025—A Kyrgyzstan court issued an order Wednesday shuttering independent broadcaster Aprel TV and terminating its broadcasting and social media operations, claiming the outlet undermined the government’s authority and negatively influenced individuals and society.  The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed against the outlet by Kyrgyz prosecutors in April, which…

UPDATE: On August 6, President Sadyr Japarov signed the media law into effect. New York, July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov to veto a new mass media law that would require all publications to register with the state and heavily restricts any foreign legal entities from founding or owning media outlets. Parliament…

New York, May 30, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to end the legal persecution of eight former and current Kloop news website staffers arrested this week—including journalists Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Joomart Duulatov, who on Friday were remanded into pretrial detention until July 21 on charges of calling for mass unrest. “Following Kloop’s forced shutdown last…

New York, April 24, 2025 —The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a lawsuit filed by Kyrgyz prosecutors against independent broadcaster Aprel TV, which the outlet reported on April 23, over alleged “negative” and “destructive” coverage of the government. “Kyrgyz authorities continue a deplorable pattern of shuttering news outlets on illegitimate grounds that their ‘negative’ reporting could spark…

New York, February 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court’s February 25 decision confirming sentences against three Temirov Live journalists on charges of calling for mass unrest, including a six-year prison term for Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, director of the anti-corruption investigative outlet, a five-year prison term for presenter Azamat…

New York, February 21, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to reverse amendments to the country’s Code of Offenses, which took effect February 10, that recriminalize libel and insult on the internet and in media. “Kyrgyzstan’s implementation of legislation that will make it easier to fine news outlets for defamation and insult…