Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and four other international organizations sent a letter to Kyrgyzstan’s authorities demanding they stop harassing local journalists who have covered alleged official corruption, and urging authorities to investigate threats and attacks against journalists. Website of the organization says.
In November, the independent Kyrgyz news website Kloop and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty published a report alleging corruption among high-ranking Kyrgyz officials. Since then, an official mentioned in the piece filed a libel complaint against the outlets and, on December 12, a Bishkek court ordered the bank accounts of both outlets and their staffers to be frozen, as well as the accounts of local independent news website 24.kg news agency, which also covered the report. The court reversed that decision on December 13.
Since December 17, Kloop and several other local independent news websites, including Kaktus.Media and Factcheck, have been experiencing cyberattacks after they published other allegations of corruption.
The letter, led by the international human rights organization Civil Rights Defenders, urges Kyrgyz authorities to take all steps possible to guarantee that journalists, lawyers, and activists associated with anti-corruption reporting are able to continue their work safely and without disruption.
