Newspaper suspended, TV station raided in Kyrgyzstan
New York, April 2, 2010—Authorities in Kyrgyzstan should halt their ongoing crackdown on independent and opposition news outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A Bishkek court suspended a pro-opposition newspaper on Wednesday—the third such suspension this month—while financial police confiscated newsroom computers belonging to an independent Web-based television channel on Thursday, effectively taking…
Under pressure, Kyrgyz stations halt RFE/RL programming
New York, March 16, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by reports that the Kyrgyz government has pressured several radio and television stations to stop carrying programming from the Kyrgyz service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
Attacks on the Press 2009: Kyrgyzstan
Top Developments• Saipov murder case unsolved and beset by questions.• Four journalists badly beaten; no arrests made. Key Statistic 76: Percentage of vote won by Kurmanbek Bakiyev in flawed presidential election. The press climate deteriorated in this mountainous central Asian nation that once offered promise for democracy and free expression. The government’s erratic investigation into the…
Kazakh police: Kyrgyz citizens suspected in editor’s killing
New York, December 29, 2009—Police in Kazakhstan said Monday that they have identified several suspects in this month’s murder of prominent Kyrgyz editor Gennady Pavlyuk. Police did not identify the suspects or describe their alleged roles, other than to say the suspects are citizens of neighboring Kyrgyzstan. In a statement today, the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s…
Prominent Kyrgyz journalist killed in Kazakhstan
New York, December 22, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kazakh authorities today to thoroughly investigate the apparent murder of visiting Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk. Pavlyuk, at left, who is better known by his pen name, Ibragim Rustambek, died in the hospital this morning after falling from an upper-story window of an apartment building…
Kyrgyzstan court rejects new probe in Saipov murder
New York, December 9, 2009—Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ruled today that the prosecution of a man accused in the 2007 murder of Alisher Saipov, editor of the Uzbek-language weekly Siyosat, can proceed, the independent news Web site Ferghana reported. Saipov’s family and colleagues have called the case bogus.
Kyrgyz reporter beaten in Osh
New York, November 3, 2009—Police in Kyrgyzstan should investigate work-related motives in a weekend assault that left Kubanychbek Zholdoshev, a reporter with the government weekly Osh Shamy, with a concussion and broken ribs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Kyrgyzstan must disclose findings in Alisher Saipov murder
New York, October 22, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to make public the findings of their investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov, left, the editor of the Uzbek-language newspaper Siyosat, who was shot in Osh two years ago. Continued impunity in the killing, which occurred in early evening in the…