The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to withdraw lawsuit to shut down Radio Azattyk and stop pressure on the country’s independent media. The appeal was published on the official website of the organization.
«Radio Azattyk is one of Kyrgyzstan’s most prominent and respected news outlets and shuttering its office would be a dark stain on the country’s press freedom record,» said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. «Kyrgyz authorities should withdraw their application to close Radio Azattyk, unblock the outlet’s websites, unfreeze its bank accounts, and cease all attempts to silence the media.»
The Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan filed a lawsuit with the Leninsky District Court of Bishkek to terminate the activities of Azattyk Media institution as a media outlet.
The lawsuit states that the video material about the conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been removed and is being distributed on social media. The actions of Azattyk, according to the plaintiff, contradict the requirements of the law on the mass media — in accordance with Article 23, propaganda of war, violence and cruelty, national, religious exclusivity and intolerance towards other peoples and nations is not allowed.
On October 27, the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan announced that it had suspended the operation of Radio Azattyk website for two months. The ministry noted that on September 16, the Current Time resource (subordinate structure of Azattyk Media) published a video entitled «Heavy fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan», in which «elements of hate speech, unconfirmed information about the alleged attack by the Kyrgyz side on Tajikistan were used, as well as information that aggravates the situation in society and causes hatred, discrimination and division among citizens when covering events in Batken region.»
