A Kyrgyz prosecutor said today he would seek to impose a six-year prison sentence on 11 journalists on trial for allegedly inciting and organizing mass riots.
The journalists, who work for the investigative media outlet Temirov Live — an OCCRP partner in Kyrgyzstan — have adamantly denied the charges and say they have been unfairly targeted due to their reporting on government corruption.
Press freedom groups have also called the case political, and linked it to the Kyrgyz government’s ongoing crackdown on free expression.
Although the 11 journalists’ ongoing trial in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, has been held behind closed doors, Bolot Temirov, the founder and chief editor of Temirov Live, told reporters about today’s hearing. He said the proposed prison sentence was harsh and unjustified.
“It is clear that this was a made-to-order case — there are no arguments in favor of the state prosecution,” he told OCCRP. “The experts themselves were unable to convincingly prove in court which words [from the journalists’ videos] contained calls [for mass riots].”
He called for the court to drop the case and immediately release the four Temirov Live staffers who remain in jail — including the outlet's director, Makhabat Tazhibek kyzy, who is also Temirov’s wife. Another seven were released earlier this year, but immediately put under house arrest or banned from leaving the country. They were initially arrested in a mass late-night roundup in January, and their homes and offices were searched.
After the arrests, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said police had conducted a “forensic linguistic examination” on social media posts from the reporters and found “calls for protests and riots.”
Lawyers for the accused hired an expert to conduct a separate analysis of their posts. She found no evidence of incitement or calls for rioting, according to Temirov. This expert was scheduled to testify in court today, but failed to appear for reasons that remain unclear.
A verdict in the case is scheduled to be handed down on October 3.
One of the journalists on trial, Tynystan Asypbekov said he had been taken off guard by the recommended jail sentence, which was harsher than he had been expecting.
“Our videos didn’t harm anyone,” he said in comments after the hearing that were shared online by Kloop, another OCCRP media partner in Kyrgyzstan. “If we had committed a major crime then we would have understood. But six years [in prison] really surprised us.”
