The media community of Kyrgyzstan expressed concern about the proposed draft of the new Constitution.
The statement says that some significant human rights and guarantees for their protection, contained in the current Constitution, confirming the state’s declared course towards democratization, are not reflected in the new draft.
Some norms are vague, ambiguous, have internal contradictions and are absurd in their content.
They provide an opportunity, according to media experts, for a law enforcement officer to set «double standards» that can seriously harm the rights of citizens to freedom of speech and expression in the country.
In particular, analysts point to Article 114 of the current Constitution, according to which only amendments are allowed.
«That is, in 2010, at the referendum, the people expressed their will, choosing the course of democratic development, indicated that only changes can be made to the Constitution. The constitutional Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Referendum also does not provide for the possibility of initiating a new draft Constitution by deputies of the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic,» the explanation says.
Analysts note that the question how the members of the constitutional convention were selected also remains open.
Adoption of the amendments in such a hasty manner, without any justification and with gross violations of constitutional legislation, will lead to a split in society, to the risk of dual power.
From the text of the appeal of representatives of media community
Media experts also draw attention to the violation of the principles of freedom of speech, since some of the wordings proposed in the new draft, in fact, exclude the right of everyone to access information, narrowing the circle of recipients of information — «media representatives.»
«With everyone’s constitutional right to access, search for information and freedom of expression, any citizen of the country can express their opinion in the media and social media. With the adoption of new version of the Constitution, this right of everyone is under threat,» the appeal says.
Media experts are confident that the new version of the Basic Law introduces censorship.
Representatives of the media community note that the draft Constitution introduces norms that significantly limit the basic democratic principles: freedom of the press, speech and expression. In addition, there were violations of the procedures for introducing amendments and the lack of justification for the urgent need to adopt the new version of the Constitution.
Media experts urge deputies of the Parliament to withdraw the draft Constitution.
The new draft Constitution has been submitted for public discussion on the official website of the Parliament.
Revision of the Constitution was originally initiated by Sadyr Japarov. He spoke about this many times. However, the attempt to rewrite the Basic Law was shifted to the deputies of Parliament of the sixth convocation, who, in fact, became illegitimate after October 28, 2020 — their term of office has expired.
