13:41, 03 февраля 2022, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Maria ORLOVA
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to drop their criminal investigation into independent news website Kaktus.media and allow all media outlets to operate freely. Statement of the organization says.
On Tuesday, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced a criminal investigation into Kaktus.media over its publication of an article, originally published by a Tajik news website, concerning a recent clash at the disputed border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The penalty for conviction is a fine of up to 100,000 soms or up to five years in prison.
Kaktus.media founder and director Dina Maslova told CPJ that investigators summoned her and two of the outlet’s editors for questioning on Monday, and she believed the case was a part of authorities’ wider crackdown on the independent press in Kyrgyzstan.
«Kyrgyz authorities’ investigation into Kaktus.media for so-called ‘war propaganda’ offenses is absurd, and is an obvious attempt to intimidate and harass the outlet,» said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. «Republishing news from foreign outlets is not a crime. Authorities in Kyrgyzstan must immediately halt their investigation into Kaktus.media and let all independent outlets operate freely.»
Maslova told CPJ that such «war propaganda» charges have not been brought before in Kyrgyzstan to her knowledge, so she did not know how the case would develop.
CPJ emailed the Prosecutor General’s Office for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.
A rally was held near the office of Kaktus.media on January 28. The protesters demanded to shut down the media outlet, because the journalists gave information — a reprint from the Tajik Asia Plus website — about the conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. Later, the Prosecutor General’s Office sent out information that a criminal case had been initiated on the fact of the publication about the armed conflict in the border zone.