The eleven journalists, who were working for the independent local media outlets: 24.KG, Temirov Live, Ayt Ayt Dese, Alga Media, Archa Media, and Politklinika, were placed in pre-trial detention for two months on 17 January, Human Rights Watch reported. Security forces also raided the offices of media and the journalists’ homes, confiscating several electronic devices.
According to the country’s interior ministry, the arrests were related to content allegedly calling for "mass riots" on the social media pages of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese. The criminal cases initiated against them could result in sentences of five to eight years in prison, if convicted of “war propaganda” or “calls for mass disorder”.
Last year, the IFJ sounded the alarm on the authorities’ campaign against independent media in the country, when the government shut down Azattyk Radio (RFE/RL), a major blow to media freedom.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: “Prosecuting journalists who investigated alleged corruption among the country’s elites in order to silence them is an act carried out by authoritarian regimes. We are alarmed by the dangerous and worrying turn against freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan and urge the authorities to immediately release our eleven colleagues and drop all charges against them. The government must respect independent journalism.