One month has passed since the office of 24.kg news agency was sealed. Lawyer Nurbek Sydykov explained why the initial decision to bar journalists from their workplaces was illegal and should be cancelled.
According to him, sealing of the office is not provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
«The legislation contains an exhaustive list of powers of officials, investigative bodies, inquiry bodies, prosecutors, investigative judges, and so on. Within the framework of these powers, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, they must carry out their actions. To seal any premises and not allow persons who use this office to enter — such a right of the investigator is not provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code. In this regard, lawyers of 24.kg news agency filed a complaint to the investigating judge, protesting the sealing of the office premises by the SCNS investigator. However, the investigating judge, recognizing that such powers are not provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, nevertheless returned our complaint, pointing out the need to simply contact the prosecutor’s office,» Nurbek Sydykov explained.
«The Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic states: the investigating judge can consider the legality and validity of any actions and inactions of the investigator, his acts and decisions made. But the court did not consider the complaint and returned it to us. How then can we check the legality if such actions are not at all provided for by the Criminal Procedure Code?» Nurbek Sydykov asks.
On February 6, the judge of the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek, Miran Shermatov, considered a complaint from the management of 24.kg news agency about the refusal to satisfy the petition accepted by the senior investigator for especially important cases of the Main Investigative Department of the State Committee for National Security, Erlan Akynbekov, for access to the sealed office behind closed doors.
It should be noted that in the complaint, 24.kg news agency asked to recognize the decision of the senior investigator for especially important cases of the Main Investigative Department of the State Committee for National Security, Erlan Akynbekov, as illegal and unfounded and to oblige the violation to be eliminated.
Employees of the State Committee for National Security came to the office of 24.kg news agency on January 16 at about 11 a.m. General Director Asel Otorbaeva, Editors-in-Chief Anton Lymar and Makhinur Niyazova were taken for interrogation. Equipment and personal mobile phones of employees were confiscated. The SCNS said that the search at 24.kg news agency was conducted as part of a criminal case under the article «Propaganda of War» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. On January 17, the managers were summoned for questioning again.
