Preliminary hearings on the lawsuit of the Matraimovs against three media outlets — 24.kg news agency, Kloop and Azattyk — and a journalist Ali Toktakunov began in the Sverdlovsky District Court of Bishkek today. Judge Zhyldyz Ibraimova chairs the trial.
She decided not to prohibit dissemination of the extracts from a journalistic investigation by Azattyk, Kloop and OCCRP disputed in the lawsuit.
The ban does not apply to the articles in whole, but to some sentences and paragraphs.
Several phrases are cited in the lawsuit that, in the opinion of the Matraimovs, discredit their honor, dignity and business reputation. For example: «this is an ordinary velour, the fabric costing only 1 dollar per meter will help to reveal schemes for hundreds of millions of dollars, and the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars were taken out from Kyrgyzstan becomes clear from these documents. They reveal the secret of the wealth of the Matraimovs.»
Lawyers of the Matraimovs announced their intention to appeal this court decision.
The interests of the plaintiffs are defended by four lawyers — Madina Niyazova, Leyla Baydaeva, Tatyana Karyzhinskaya and Oksana Zhdanova.
The plaintiffs are the deputy of the Parliament Iskender Matraimov, his wife Minovar Dzhumaeva, the former deputy head of the Customs Service Raiymbek Matraimov, his wife Uulkan Turgunova, as well as the Public Foundation named after Ismail Matraimov. The amount of the claims for the protection of honor and dignity amounted to: 22.5 million soms against Azattyk, 10 million against journalist Ali Toktakunov, 12.5 million against Kloop, and 15 million against 24.kg news agency.
