The Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan suspended the operation of Azattyk radio website for two months. The ministry reported.
According to it, the reason for blocking is «reaction to inaccurate materials in the information space of the country that are contrary to the national interests of the Kyrgyz Republic (inaccurate information about the events on September 14-17, 2022).»
The ministry noted that on September 16, Current Time resource (subordinate structure of Azattyk Media) published a video «Heavy fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan», in which «elements of hate speech were used, as well as unconfirmed information about an alleged attack by the Kyrgyz side on Tajikistan, information that aggravates the situation in society and causes hatred, discrimination and division among citizens, when covering events in Batken region.»
«On September 17, the Ministry of Culture sent an appeal to Azattyk on strict observance of the norms of the current legislation in the field of the media and protection from inaccurate (false) information on the Internet. However, this appeal was ignored, Azattyk Media did not provide a response and did not take appropriate measures,» the ministry said.
On October 24, the ministry sent a letter to Azattyk Media for the immediate (within 24 hours of the request) removal of the aforementioned material.
«An answer was received to the letter that the site is taking appropriate measures and technical work to remove the specified material from the platform. However, this video has not yet been removed,» the ministry added.
President Sadyr Japarov signed the Law on protection against inaccurate (false) information initiated by MP Gulshat Asylbayeva on August 23, 2021. The discriminatory document was adopted by the sixth convocation after a meeting with the head of state in violation of all procedures of the regulations. Representatives of the media community and experts have repeatedly stated that the law is directed against independent media. Blocking of the website of Respublika newspaper and the partial blocking of 24.kg news agency website are the proof of this.
