Kyrgyz Journalists Say Authorities Targeting Their Families

Journalists from two independent media outlets in Kyrgyzstan have reported that individuals claiming to be from law enforcement have approached their relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances to gather personal information. The newsrooms believe the actions are related to their work.

The investigative outlet Politklinika reported Monday that unknown individuals who identified themselves as employees of the State Security Service collected information about editor Yrysbu Kylychbek and reporter Adakhan Amanatov.

According to Politklinika, these individuals visited Kylychbek's relatives and the school Amanatov once attended. Editor-in-chief Dilbar Alimova told OCCRP that visitors warned Kylychbek's mother that her daughter is interfering with politics, and that she should tell her to stop.

"Their identities could not be confirmed. The editorial staff will seek information from official channels," Politklinika said.

Alimova added that investigators also visited the village of another reporter, Bektur Orgunbayev, asking questions. 

“His friends told us that individuals were gathering information about him — who he is, what he does, whether they know him — but they did not identify themselves,” Alimova said.

Last Friday, Yulia Kuleshova, a reporter for the independent media outlet Aprel, posted a similar account. Kuleshova wrote that individuals who said they were police officers questioned her mother and a neighbor, asking whom she lived with, if she was married, and her husband’s nationality.

“They showed their IDs so quickly that no one could read them, and it felt awkward to ask,” Kuleshova said.

“I’m considering what to do next and whether it’s worth thinking about. Maybe they were just fans? Ha-ha,” she wrote. “I know I haven’t done anything wrong; my conscience is clear. But does that matter? Sometimes it feels like it doesn’t.”

Both news outlets believe the visits are tied to their reporting and have called on the police to investigate.

“We’re very concerned after these visits because similar incidents happened before the arrest of 11 journalists,” Alimova told OCCRP. She added that in the past two days, attempts had been made to access their reporters' social media accounts.

Police and the State Security Service have not yet commented.

Kyrgyzstan, once considered the most democratic of Central Asia’s former Soviet republics, has increased pressure on the press in recent years under the current president.

The 11 journalists Alimova referred to were current and former reporters from Temirov Live, an OCCRP Kyrgyz partner, who were arrested and charged with inciting and organizing mass riots. After a 10-month trial, two were sentenced to five and six years in prison, two received three years' probation, and the others were acquitted.