President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov commented on the amount of the Matraimovs’ lawsuit against three media outlets — 24.kg news agency, Kloop, Azattyk and journalist Ali Toktakunov at a year-end press conference.
The head of state said: they could have filed a lawsuit for a smaller amount.
He believes that there is freedom of the media in Kyrgyzstan. «I will always defend freedom of speech, thanks to which we take the 83rd place in the world freedom of speech ranking,» Sooronbai Jeenbekov said.
Raiymbek Matraimov and members of his family sued 24.kg news agency, Kloop and Azattyk after a journalistic investigation into smuggling schemes and transfer of $ 700 million. In total, the family of the former customs officer demands from journalists 60 million soms. The Sverdlovsky District Court of Bishkek froze the media accounts without notification of the defendants.
