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Category: kyrgyzstan

  • Central Asia Leaders Must Deliver on Human Rights Pledges Made at Summit say NGOs

    Photo and copyright: European Union.

    On 10 April 2025 Civil Rights Defenders, along with seven other international human rights organizations, commend the commitments made at the EU-Central Asia Summit in Samarkand. We urge Central Asian leaders to prioritize human rights and uphold the civil and political freedoms enshrined in their national constitutions and international treaties. The commitments to peace, security, democracy, and the elevation of relations to a strategic partnership must be matched by concrete actions to protect human rights.

    On Friday, April 4, the Uzbek city of Samarkand hosted the first ever EU – Central Asia Summit where high-level officials – all five regional presidents and European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – discussed economic cooperation and agreed to bring their existing partnership to a new strategic level. At the end of the summit, participants issued a joint declaration that, among others, stated their commitment to freedom of expression and association, creating an enabling environment for civil society and independent media, protection of human rights defenders, as well as to respecting the rights of women and children. According to an official press release, the European Commission promised to invest €12 billion in the region to strengthen transport links and deepen cooperation on critical raw materials, digital connectivity, water, and energy.

    Paragraph 3 of the joint declaration says: “We are committed to cooperate for peace, security, and democracy, to fully respect international law, including the UN Charter and the fundamental principles of respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all States, within their internationally recognised borders. We emphasised the importance of achieving as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. We emphasized the need to uphold the principles of the OSCE by the participating States. We reconfirmed the obligation of all States to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force, to respect international humanitarian law and underlined the need for peaceful resolution of conflicts.”

    In paragraph 16, the “EU and Central Asian leaders reiterated that the promotion and protection of rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms is a common fundamental value. Ensuring freedom of expression and association, an enabling environment for civil society and independent media, protection of human rights defenders as well as the respect for the rights of women, the rights of the child, and labor rights remain at the core of EU–Central Asia relations. The EU reiterated its readiness to support efforts in this regard at regional as well as at national level.” 

    Furthermore, in paragraph 15 the “Participants affirmed the need for their continued commitment to enhanced cooperation and the development of new approaches in the joint fight against organised crime, violent extremism, radicalisation, terrorism, drug trafficking, trafficking in human beings, migrant smuggling, cyber threats, including cybercrime and disinformationas well as addressing Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear risks whilst safeguarding human rights and media freedom [emphasis added].”

    Civil Rights Defenders, International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Araminta, Freedom Now, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, People in Need, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) welcome these declared commitments and urge the leaders of each Central Asian nation to take immediate steps to fulfill their promises. They should start by releasing from prison all journalists, bloggers, lawyers, human rights defenders, civil society activists, and political opponents who have been prosecuted and convicted on retaliatory and unsubstantiated charges. They should also repeal legislation containing provisions that directly contradict their declared commitment to human rights standards. 

    The Central Asian governments should also end–and establish safeguards to prevent–the misuse of anti-extremism and anti-disinformation policies and security tools to restrict, persecute, and/or criminalize legitimate civil society activity. While enhanced cooperation in the joint fight against organized crime, violent extremism and terrorism, and disinformation are a welcome development, these types of laws and cooperation initiatives have been instrumentalized by the Central Asian governments against legitimate civil society actors, media and political opposition activists, including for imprisonment on lengthy sentences and transnational repression extending to the territory of the European Union. 

    In particular:

    • In Kazakhstan, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev should order the release from custody of activist Aigerim Tleuzhanova, political opposition party leader Marat Zhylanbayev, satirist blogger Temirlan Ensebek, and labor rights activist Erzhan Elshibayev among others prosecuted on politically motivated charges, We believe that these individuals were targeted in direct retaliation for exercising their civil and political rights, and authorities have failed to provide any credible evidence to support the allegations levelled against them. Kazakh authorities should repeal or thoroughly revise broadly worded criminal code provisions penalising the involvement in ‘’extremist’’ activities, ‘’incitement’’ to discord and the spread of ‘’false’’ information, which are frequently misused to target critics, including in some of the cases mentioned above. Kazakh authorities should also drop their declared plans to adopt a so-called “foreign agents’” law, cease the public attacks on the LGBTIQ community, and end reprisals against NGOs-recipients of foreign grants.
    • In Kyrgyzstan, it is welcome that President Sadyr Japarov pardoned Temirov Live associated journalist Azamat Ishenbekov this week, although he should not have been imprisoned in the first place. Authorities should also quash the charges against his colleagues convicted on similar charges, releasing Makhabat Tajibek Kyzy  and lifting the probational sentences imposed on Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov. We believe all four journalists were targeted in retaliation for their critical opinions and independent journalism. Authorities should also release independent journalist Kanyshay Mamyrkulova and drop the criminal charges initiated against her and others in apparent retaliation for social media posts critical of the government. In addition, they should reverse the court ruling that ordered the liquidation of independent news organization Kloop Media and stop pressuring other independent media. They should repeal the law on so-called “foreign representatives” and revoke vaguely worded provisions that prohibit the dissemination of “false’’, defamatory or insulting information, as well as content that ‘’promotes non-traditional sexual relations’’. This legislation severely violates the fundamental freedoms of expression, association, and assembly.
    • In Tajikistan, President Emomali Rakhmon should take immediate steps to release from prison the eight independent journalists Rukhshona Hakimova, Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda, Ahmad Ibrohim, Abdullo Ghurbati, Daler Imomali, Khurshed Fozilov, Khushom Gulyam, and Zavqibek Saidamini. Human rights activists and lawyers Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, Buzurgmehr Yorov, Manuchehr Kholiknazarov, and Faromuz Irgashov should also be freed without delay. By imprisoning these individuals the Tajik authorities have cemented a climate of fear among civil society actors – a record that must be reversed. Tajik authorities should also cease its continued crackdown in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region and its systematic use of transnational repression to target government opponents abroad, including in EU countries. Several individuals who were forcibly returned to Tajikistan in  2024 were tortured, arrested and handed lengthy prison sentences after closed trials. 
    • In Turkmenistan, President Serdar Berdimuhamedov should take concrete steps to rectify his government’s extremely poor human rights record, free political prisoners, and allow space for an independent civil society to develop. The government should publicly declare tolerance towards criticism in the media and end wide ranging internet censorship. Authorities should immediately end attacks and harassment of critics of the regime both inside the country and abroad, including veteran human rights defender and journalist Soltan Achilova, who has repeatedly been barred from leaving the country. They should also decriminalize homosexuality while adopting legislation to criminalize domestic violence.  
    • In Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev should order to quash wrongful convictions and free from prison and retaliatory psychiatric ward lawyer Dauletmurat Tadzhimuratov, activists Nargiz Keldiyorova and Dildora Khakimova and blogger Valijon Kalonov. All these human rights defenders have been targeted with retaliatory prosecution and convicted on unsubstantiated charges for publicly expressing their opinions about the state of affairs in the country. The Uzbek government should also repeal the law on so-called “undesirable foreign persons,” decriminalize male homosexuality, and remove all legal provisions and bureaucratic obstructions that prevent independent civil society groups from engaging in legitimate human rights work.

    We urge the leaders of each Central Asian nation to demonstrate that they have the political will to deliver on their declared commitments made at the Samarkand summit and to respect human rights and civil and political freedoms protected by their national constitutions and international treaties ratified by them. We call on the EU to ensure that the commitments expressed in the joint declaration are followed through and that Central Asian governments are held accountable for violations of their human rights obligations under EU cooperation instruments, including bilateral partnership and cooperation agreements and preferential trade schemes. In line with the EU’s value-based partnership with the Central Asian countries, advancing connectivity, trade, and investment should go hand in hand with efforts to promote concrete progress in human rights and rule of law in these countries. The steps listed above are merely a suggested choice of actions that we urge the Central Asia governments to implement without delay. Much more needs to be done for addressing past and ongoing abuses that respect and protect citizens’ rights and freedoms.

    Signtures

    Civil Rights Defenders

    International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)

    Araminta,

    Freedom Now

    Norwegian Helsinki Committee

    People in Need

    International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

    World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)

    Central Asia Leaders Must Deliver on Human Rights Pledges Made at Summit

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • EU urged to put human rights centre stage at first central Asia summit

    Bloc to discuss trade, security and energy with leaders of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

    The EU is being urged to put human rights centre stage as it begins its first summit with the leaders of central Asia.

    The president of the European Council, António Costa, and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, are meeting the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on Friday.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Kyrgyzstan Supreme Court upholds lengthy prison terms for Temirov Live journalists

    New York, February 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court’s February 25 decision confirming sentences against three Temirov Live journalists on charges of calling for mass unrest, including a six-year prison term for Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, director of the anti-corruption investigative outlet, a five-year prison term for presenter Azamat Ishenbekov, and a five-year suspended sentence for reporter Aike Beishekeyeva.

    “Today’s Supreme Court ruling in the case of prominent investigative outlet Temirov Live was a chance for Kyrgyzstan to right the most egregious press freedom violation in the country’s modern history. Instead it serves to underline the apparently irreversible course towards authoritarianism under President Sadyr Japarov,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Kyrgyz authorities should immediately release Temirov Live journalists Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and Azamat Ishenbekov, withdraw all charges against them and Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov, and end their attacks on the country’s once-free press.”

    Kyrgyz police arrested 11 current and former staff of Temirov Live, a local partner of the global Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in January 2024. In October, a court convicted Tajibek kyzy, Ishenbekov, Beishekeyeva, and former reporter Aktilek Kaparov and acquitted the remaining seven. Kaparov, who like Beishekeyeva was given a five-year suspended sentence with a three-year probation period, has yet to file a Supreme Court appeal. The four convicted journalists remained in detention pending the October verdict; the seven who were acquitted were previously moved into house arrest or released under travel bans in March and August.

    A review of the case by TrialWatch, a global initiative of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, concluded that the convictions suggest “improperly that negative statements [in Temirov Live videos] about the government can serve as a basis for inciting mass unrest” under Kyrgyz law, and said the journalists’ right to a fair trial was violated, “as the court apparently relied almost exclusively on prosecution experts’ conclusions” and failed to address major gaps and inconsistencies in their testimony.

    Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov, who works from exile after being deported from Kyrgyzstan in retaliation for his reporting in 2022, told CPJ that Tajibek kyzy, Ishenbekov, and Beishekeyeva plan to file complaints against their convictions with the United Nations Human Rights Council.

    In November 2024, CPJ submitted a report on Kyrgyz authorities’ unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting under Japarov to the Human Rights Council ahead of its 2025 Universal Periodic Review of the country’s human rights record in May.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan government recriminalizes libel and insult laws 

    New York, February 21, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to reverse amendments to the country’s Code of Offenses, which took effect February 10, that recriminalize libel and insult on the internet and in media.

    “Kyrgyzstan’s implementation of legislation that will make it easier to fine news outlets for defamation and insult is deplorable,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “The amendments mark yet another blow to the country’s once-free media sphere under President Sadyr Japarov’s authoritarian makeover, and should be repealed immediately.”

    The amendments stipulate fines of 65,000 som (USD$750) on organizations and 20,000 som (USD$230) for individuals for alleged defamation and insult in the media and online. Under the new law, complaints will be handled by police and adjudicated by so-called administrative courts in an expedited format compared to civil law proceedings.

    Kyrgyzstan previously decriminalized defamation in 2011 and insult in 2015.

    Semetey Amanbekov, a member of local advocacy group Kyrgyzstan Media Platform, told CPJ that the enacted law is an improvement on a widely criticized draft granting a government ministry the power to levy larger fines extrajudicially.

    However, he said the abbreviated administrative hearings make it “almost impossible” to adequately consider complaints and are instead designed to give officials a “quick route” to silence media “without the publicity of long civil cases,” through fines that could bankrupt Kyrgyz media outlets.

    The amendments follow a controversial 2021 law used to restrict access to leading independent media in Kyrgyzstan by blocking websites determined to contain “false information.”

    Since Japarov came to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press, shuttering key outlets and jailing journalists.

    CPJ emailed the Office of the President of Kyrgyzstan for comment, but did not receive a reply.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan court upholds convictions of 4 anti-corruption journalists

    New York, December 18, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Kyrgyzstan court’s decision upholding convictions against four journalists from anti-corruption investigative outlet Temirov Live, two of whom were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.

    On Wednesday, the Bishkek City Court upheld an October 10 first instance court decision sentencing Makhabat Tajibek kyzy to six years in prison, Azamat Ishenbekov to five years in prison, and reporter Aike Beishekeyeva and former reporter Aktilek Kaparov to three years of probation. Prosecutors did not appeal the acquittals of seven other current and former Temirov Live staff.

    “Temirov Live’s bold anti-corruption coverage has made it the Kyrgyz government’s number one target. By upholding the outrageous prison sentences against director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and presenter Azamat Ishenbekov, Kyrgyz authorities are confirming that they have no response to the outlet’s reporting but repression,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities in Kyrgyzstan should immediately release Tajibek kyzy and Ishenbekov, not contest their Supreme Court appeals and the appeals of journalists Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov, and end their campaign against the independent press.”

    Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov told CPJ from exile that the journalists plan to appeal their convictions to Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court.

    Kyrgyz police arrested 11 current and former staff of Temirov Live, a local partner of the global Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in January on charges of calling for mass unrest, accusing the outlet of “indirectly” making such calls by “discrediting” authorities in their videos.

    Authorities previously deported Temirov, an international award-winning investigative reporter, and banned him from entering Kyrgyzstan for five years in retaliation for his work.

    In November, CPJ submitted a report on Kyrgyz authorities’ unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting under current President Sadyr Japarov to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of its 2025 Universal Periodic Review of the country’s human rights record.

    On Tuesday, Japarov accused U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service and “five or six other sites” of “using freedom of speech as a cover” to spread false information and warned them to “be careful” with their reporting on corruption.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Write for Rights 2024 to start soon

    Every year, people from around the world take part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign. It’s a really easy way to make a big difference by doing something “little”. It doesn’t take much time – all you need to do is write a letter, send a post or sign a petition.

    Since Write for Rights started in 2001, millions of people have changed the lives of those whose human rights have been taken away. In fact, over the past 20 years more than 56 million actions have been taken, while over 100 people featured in our campaign have seen a positive outcome in their case. For this years toolkit see:

    https://www.amnesty.org.au/write-for-rights-2024-activist-toolkit/

    This year’s campaign will feature nine individuals and groups from all around the world. From a TikToker in Angola to a women’s rights defender in Saudi Arabia, these inspiring people are connected because their human rights have been violated.

    For results from the recent past: Meet three incredible people whose lives have been changed for the better and find out what people power means to them.

    After huge public campaigning, artist and anti-war activist Aleksandra (Sasha) Skochilenko was freed in a historic prisoner swap in August 2024. The deal was brokered between Russia and Belarus on the one hand and Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the USA on the other.

    Woman in rainbow tie-dye tshirt smiles and makes a v / peace hand gesture.
    Aleksandra Skochilenko on the day of sentencing, November 16, 2023.

    Rita Karasartova is a human rights defender and expert in civic governance from Kyrgyzstan. For over a decade she dedicated her life to providing independent legal advice, helping people whose rights had been violated. Charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government”, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, Rita and 21 other defendants were acquitted on 14 June 2024.   

    In August 2017, Myanmar’s military unleashed a deadly crackdown on Rohingya Muslims – an ethnic minority who have faced decades of severe state-sponsored discrimination in Myanmar. Over 620,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after security forces unleashed a campaign of violence, killing an unknown number of Rohingya; raping Rohingya women and girls; laying landmines; and burning entire Rohingya villages.  

    Fearing for their lives, then 17-year-old Maung Sawyeddollah and his family walked 15 days to Bangladesh, where they reached Cox’s Bazar refugee camps. Fuelled by his desire to become a lawyer, Sawyeddollah wanted to seek justice for the suffering around him.

    Alongside his studies, he started a campaign calling for Facebook’s owner, Meta, to take responsibility for the way its algorithms amplified anti-Rohingya incitement on the Facebook platform, fuelling the Myanmar military’s violence.  

    In 2023 Sawyeddollah was facing serious security risks in the refugee camps. Together with partners Victim Advocates International and Dev.tv, Amnesty International put together resources to help ensure Sawyeddollah’s safety. Through Amnesty’s Global Relief Team he was provided with urgent financial assistance to support his security needs throughout the year. In August 2024, Sawyeddollah was granted a student visa and moved to the USA to study. He landed in New York City on 19 August 2024, and he is now an international student at New York University.

    Young person wearing a backpack taking a selfie in a US airport.
    Maung Sawyeddollah, in New York, USA, 2024.

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • CPJ condemns convictions of 4 Temirov Live journalists in Kyrgyzstan

    New York, October 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday’s sentencing of Temirov Live’s director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and presenter Azamat Ishenbekov to six and five years in prison respectively on charges of calling for mass unrest. They plan to appeal.

    “By sentencing two anti-corruption journalists to lengthy prison terms on retaliatory charges, Kyrgyzstan has forfeited its reputation as a relative haven of press freedom in Central Asia and entered a dark new page in its history,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyz authorities should not contest the appeals of Makhabat Tajibek kyzy and Azamat Ishenbekov and lift all restrictions on other Temirov Live journalists. International partners must press the Kyrgyz government to reverse its growing attacks on the press.”

    The other verdicts in the Temirov Live trial were:

    • Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov: sentenced to three years’ probation.
    • Sapar Akunbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Tynystan Asypbekov, Maksat Tajibek uulu, Joodar Buzumov, Jumabek Turdaliev, and Akyl Orozbekov: not guilty.

    Kyrgyz police arrested the 11 current and former staff of Temirov Live, a local partner of the global Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in January. By April, all but the four convicted on October 10 had been released into house arrest or under travel bans.

    The indictment, reviewed by CPJ, alleges that Temirov Live and its sister project Ait Ait Dese “indirectly” called for mass unrest by “discrediting” authorities in their videos.

    The journalists’ lawyers said the case was built on “untenable” testimony from state-appointed expert linguists and political scientists who analyzed the outlet’s videos.

    Temirov Live’s founder Bolot Temirov, who has been deported and banned from Kyrgyzstan, has said the charges may be in retaliation for the outlet’s investigations into alleged corruption, including by President Sadyr Japarov. Japarov said last month that the Temirov Live journalists were “paid to sit on social media and spread false information calling for mass unrest.” Since Japarov came to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting

    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

  • Kyrgyzstan prosecutors seek 6-year prison terms for 11 investigative journalists

    New York, September 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to drop the prosecution against 11 current and former staff of anti-corruption investigative outlet Temirov Live and release those in detention, after prosecutors on Thursday requested 6-year prison sentences for the journalists on charges of calling for mass unrest.

    “The conviction of even a single one of the 11 Temirov Live investigative journalists on such clearly contrived and retaliatory charges would deal a further severe blow to Kyrgyzstan’s international reputation,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyz prosecutors should drop charges against 11 current and former members of Temirov Live, release those remaining in detention, and lift the travel bans against others. The government must stop its relentless campaign against the outlet and its founder, Bolot Temirov.”

    Kyrgyz police arrested the current and former Temirov Live staff during raids on the journalists’ homes and the outlet’s office on January 16. Four of the 11 journalists — Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, Aktilek Kaparov, Aike Beishekeyeva, and Azamat Ishenbekov — remain in detention. Jumabek Turdaliev has been released on a travel ban, while the other six — Sapar Akunbekov, Akyl Orozbekov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Joodar Buzumov, and Maksat Tajibek uulu — were released under house arrest pending trial.

    A verdict in the case is expected October 3. Case materials reviewed by CPJ allege that videos by Temirov Live, a partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and sister outlet Ait Ait Dese “discredit” the government and contain “indirect” and “subtextual” calls for mass unrest. Akmat Alagushev, lawyer for two of the journalists, told CPJ that the charges are “absurd,” saying that prosecutors’ resorting to the term “indirect calls,” which lacks basis in Kyrgyz legislation, shows that investigators were unable to find any actual calls for mass unrest in the outlets’ publications.

    Authorities deported Temirov in November 2022 and banned him from entering the country for five years in connection with his reporting.

    Since 2022, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press. A Russian-style “foreign agents” law approved in April could be used to target media outlets and press freedom groups.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan Supreme Court upholds shuttering of investigative outlet Kloop

    New York, August 29, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court in July to uphold the liquidation of Kloop Media, a nonprofit that runs the investigative news website Kloop.

    “The forced shuttering of international award–winning investigative outlet Kloop is a shameful episode in the history of modern Kyrgyzstan — a country long viewed as a haven for press freedom in Central Asia — and is a clear indication that under President Japarov this reputation no longer holds,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyz authorities should immediately reverse their repressive course against the media and allow Kloop and all other independent outlets to work freely.”

    On Thursday, Kloop reported that the Supreme Court on July 16 had upheld a lower court’s refusal to hear its appeal against a February liquidation order. The decision, which Kloop learned of on August 22, marks the end of the outlet’s hopes of overturning that liquidation.

    Kloop founder Rinat Tuhvatshin said the decision was “expected” but that the organization plans to keep publishing “the most penetrating investigations, the most balanced news, and the sharpest commentary.”

    Kyrgyz prosecutors applied to shutter Kloop, a local partner of the global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in August 2023 and blocked its website amid a series of corruption investigations into relatives of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and other top state officials.

    Under Japarov, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional beacon for the free press.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • CPJ calls for end to trial of 11 anti-corruption journalists in Kyrgyzstan

    Stockholm, June 13, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kyrgyz authorities to immediately drop all charges against 11 current and former Temirov Live staff, ahead of an unprecedented trial due to open on Friday, and end the harassment of the independent press.

    “Even as Kyrgyzstan continues its rapid descent into authoritarianism under President Sadyr Japarov, issuing prison sentences for 11 journalists would mark a terrible watershed in a country historically seen as Central Asia’s ‘island of democracy,’” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Kyrgyz authorities’ international reputation will be in tatters if the current and former staff of investigative outlet Temirov Live are convicted on evidently trumped-up charges.”

    At a preliminary hearing on June 7, judges at the Lenin District Court, in the capital, Bishkek, rejected motions to dismiss the case against Temirov Live director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, the investigative outlet’s current staff Aike Beishekeyeva, Akyl Orozbekov, Sapar Akunbekov, and Azamat Ishenbekov, and its former journalists Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Joodar Buzumov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Maksat Tajibek uulu, and Jumabek Turdaliev, and set the first session of the case for June 14, according to reports and Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov, who spoke to CPJ from exile. The court also extended the pre-trial detention of Tajibek kyzy, Kaparov, Beishekeyeva, and Ishenbekov, those sources said.

    The 11 current and former Temirov Live employees were arrested in January on charges of inciting mass unrest, which could see them jailed for up to eight years under Article 278 of Kyrgyzstan’s criminal code. Seven of the journalists were subsequently released into house arrest or under travel bans pending trial.

    A local partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Temirov Live is known for its anti-corruption investigations into senior government officials and has more than 280,000 subscribers on its YouTube channels. In November 2022, authorities deported Kyrgyzstan-born Temirov to Russia and banned him from entering the country for five years, after convicting the journalist of using forged documents to obtain a passport, in a case widely regarded as retaliation for his reporting.

    Since Japarov came to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press.

    In January, security services raided privately owned news website 24.kg and opened a criminal case citing “propaganda of war.” In February, a court shuttered Kloop, another OCCRP investigative partner. In April, Japarov ratified a Russian-style “foreign agents” law that could be used to target media outlets and press freedom groups.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Parents Of Pakistani Students Protest After Mob Attack On Foreigners In Kyrgyzstan


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Students Leave Kyrgyzstan In Wake Of Anti-Foreigner Mob Violence


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Protests In Pakistan Over Mob Attack On Foreigners In Kyrgyzstan


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Truck Accident In Kyrgyzstan: Driverless Vehicle Rolls Down, Hitting A Crowd Of Children


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘Foreign Agent’ Laws Spread, now also Georgia ?

    Iskra Kirova, Advocacy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division of HRW, wrote on 4 April 2024: ‘Foreign Agent’ Laws Spread as EU Dithers to Support Civil Society

    On the night before the infamous “foreign agents” law came into force back in 2012, unknown individuals sprayed graffiti reading, “Foreign Agent! ♥ USA” on the buildings hosting the offices of three prominent NGOs in Moscow, including Memorial. 
    On the night before the infamous “foreign agents” law came into force back in 2012, unknown individuals sprayed graffiti reading, “Foreign Agent! ♥ USA” on the buildings hosting the offices of three prominent NGOs in Moscow, including Memorial.  © 2012 Yulia Klimova/Memorial

    Georgia’s ruling party plans to reintroduce highly controversial Russia-style “foreign agent” legislation aimed at incapacitating civil society and independent media. If adopted, the laws, which were withdrawn last year in the face of massive protests, would require foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations and media to register as “agents of foreign influence”. That would make them subject to additional scrutiny and sanctions, including administrative penalties up to 25,000 GEL (about 8,600 Euro). Authorities claim the laws promote “transparency”, but their statements make it clear the laws will be used to stigmatize and punish critical voices.

    Georgia was granted EU candidate status in December 2023 on the understanding it would improve conditions for civil society. This move risks derailing its EU integration even if the EU has until now been willing to move the country forward in the accession process despite limited progress on EU reform priorities. Georgia’s defiance of the EU on its civil society commitments isn’t so surprising when seen in the regional context. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2024/03/24/kyrgyzstan-on-its-way-to-emulate-russia-with-a-draft-law-on-foreign-representatives-agents/

    The day before Georgia’s announcement, Kyrgyzstan’s president signed an abusive “foreign representatives” law. Copied almost entirely from the Russian equivalent, the law would apply the stigmatizing designation of “foreign representative” to any nongovernmental organization that receives foreign funding and engages in vaguely defined “political activity”. The bill had been widely criticized after its initial submission in November 2022, including in a urgency resolution by the European Parliament.

    The EU had ample opportunity to press the authorities to reject this bill. Kyrgyzstan benefits from privileged access to the EU internal market tied to respect for international human rights conventions: conventions this law clearly contravenes. The country is poised to sign an enhanced partnership agreement with the EU that centers democracy and fundamental rights. The EU has been silent on whether these deals would be imperiled by the bill’s adoption, despite the fact the European Commission’s own assessment highlighted Kyrgyzstan’s dire environment for civil society and the country’s breach of its obligations.

    The latest spate of curbs on civil society comes in the wake of the European Commission’s December 2023 legislative proposal for an EU Directive on “transparency of interest representation” that would create a register of organizations which receive foreign funding. European civil society vehemently opposes the proposal because it risks shrinking space for independent organizations at home and diminishing the EU’s credibility in opposing such laws abroad. Yet the Commission forged ahead. On the same day the proposal was adopted, Hungary’s parliament approved a law that gives a government-controlled body broad powers to target civil society and independent media.

    With civil society organizations under threat throughout Europe and Central Asia, we need an EU that in words and actions protects civic space and sets the right standards.

    https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/04/foreign-agent-laws-spread-eu-dithers-support-civil-society

    Georgian government wants to bring back criticised law 

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Kyrgyzstan (and Slovakia) on their way to emulate Russia with draft law on ‘foreign representatives (agents)’

    On 21 March 2024, Nikkei Asia carried the story on Kyrgyzstan taking a page from Russia in pushing for a ‘foreign agents’ law

    Kyrgyzstan: Veto the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ - Civic Space

    Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov faces a high-stakes decision on whether to sign new legislation that critics warn will significantly impair how human rights defenders and independent media, among others, can work in his mountainous Central Asian state. On March 14, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of a “foreign agents” bill that mirrors legislation adopted in Russia over a decade ago. The law is designed to control the activities of nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations that receive funding from abroad by compelling them to register as “foreign representatives,” leading to closer scrutiny of their activities by the authorities.

    Japarov has a month from that date to sign it into law. Many observers have been vocal in their opposition and are urging the president to veto the bill. Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, told Nikkei Asia that this law “would see the further and sharper shrinking of civil society,” a sector that has been under attack in Kyrgyzstan for more than a decade.

    In the meantime the Prague based NGO, People in Need, speaks out against the Slovakian government’s proposed measures to curb critical media and NGOs, which would mirror tactics employed by autocrats and dictators in places ranging from Russia to Latin America, It has raised concerns about the erosion of civil liberties and the stifling of dissent. In a move reminiscent of authoritarian regimes, officials seek to designate these entities as “foreign agents,” a term often utilised to suppress opposition voices. The Fico government has already taken steps to cut NGO funding, raising further alarms about the independence of civil society activities. Additionally, Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová and Justice Minister Boris Susko have initiated cuts to subsidy programmes, redirecting funds away from NGOs to other areas, citing concerns about transparency and favouritism in grant allocation. The government’s actions have prompted backlash from NGOs, with 90 organisations signing a petition against the minister’s decisions. 

    As an organisation with roots steeped in the freedom and civic movements of post-Cold-War Czechoslovakia, we are appalled to see the illiberal turn taken by the Slovak government. The Fico government’s proposal to impose a Russian-style foreign agents’ law is anathema to the shared goals of the Czech and Slovak people who fought to end the Russian subjugation of our homelands. This is of great concern and sadness to us at People in Need.  

    https://www.peopleinneed.net/slovak-government-targets-ngos-with-proposed-foreign-agents-act-11299gp

    On 21 March 2024, a large group of civil society organisations jointly called on the president of Kyrgyzstan, Sadyr Japarov, to veto the amendments to the Law on Non-commercial Organisations, known as the law on ‘foreign representatives’ which clearly violates the country’s international human rights obligations and would be a devastating blow the civil society. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/foreign-agent-law/]

    …We are writing to you on behalf of the undersigned civil society organisations from different countries to express support for Kyrgyzstan’s civil society and urge you to veto the amendments to the Law on Non-commercial Organisations, known as the law on ‘foreign representatives’, which parliament adopted on third reading on 14 March 2024. The proposed amendments fall seriously short of Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and risk delivering a devastating blow to its vibrant civil society. The amendments will impair civil society’s ability to carry out its important and legitimate work to the benefit of the people of Kyrgyzstan, and to promote public participation, transparency, accountability and good governance, thereby eroding democratic and human rights progress made by Kyrgyzstan with negative implications for its international reputation. Further, the proposed amendments will endanger international development and economic assistance programmes in the country, which will also undermine prospects for the achievement of sustainable development goals contrary to your government’s ambitious agenda in this area. Thus, we urge you to veto the amendments for the benefit of Kyrgyzstan and its people.

    Both national and international human rights experts have concluded that the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ clearly violates Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations. For example, such conclusions were presented in a joint communication addressed to your government by three UN Special Rapporteurs, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, of which Kyrgyzstan currently is a member. The three rapporteurs stated: ‘many provisions in the proposed law would be contrary to the international human rights obligations of the Kyrgyz Republic, including the right to the freedom of association, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to non-discrimination and the right to privacy. If passed, this draft law could have a chilling effect on the operation of all associations in the Kyrgyz Republic, limiting their ability to advocate for human rights, provide social services, and contribute to the development of a robust and inclusive society.’

    In an earlier legal assessment prepared at the request of Kyrgyzstan’s Ombudsperson, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) found that the proposed provisions lack legitimate justification and do not meet the requirements of international human rights law for acceptable restrictions on the right to freedom of association. ODIHR also stressed that the key concepts of ‘foreign representatives’ and ‘political activities’ used in the draft law are inconsistent with the principle of legal certainty and predictability and ‘would allow unfettered discretion on the part of the implementing authorities’. ODIHR further found that the proposed provisions are contrary to the principle of non-discrimination and risk stigmatising organisations carrying out legitimate work and triggering mistrust, fear and hostility against them.

    The draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ does not only violate your country’s international obligations but also contradicts provisions of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic (including articles 36, 32, 24 and 29), which protect the right to freedom of association and other fundamental rights. In this way, the draft law challenges the legitimacy of the current Constitution, which was initiated by you and endorsed by citizens in a national referendum in 2021.

    The proponents of the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ have argued that it is aimed at ensuring the transparency of civil society organisations (CSOs). However, while transparency is an important issue, it is not a legitimate reason under international human rights law for imposing invasive, discriminatory, and stigmatising restrictions on CSOs. On the contrary, transparency can be ensured in ways that do not contradict international law nor hamper the work of CSOs. Moreover, all non-commercial organisations in Kyrgyzstan, including those that receive foreign funding, are already subjected to extensive state control and regularly report about their activities and finances to various state bodies, which ensures transparency of their work. In particular, amendments to the Law on Non-commercial Organisations, adopted in 2021, oblige non-commercial organisations to annually provide detailed information on their sources of funding, use of funds and assets for publication on the Tax Service’s website. This information is thus already publicly accessible.

    Rather than increasing the transparency of non-commercial organisations, the draft law risks undermining civil society’s crucial role in assisting public bodies with the provision of support to vulnerable groups of the population, and also in promoting public sector transparency and accountability. Watchdog organisations have already warned of a significant decline in government transparency in Kyrgyzstan, preventing the exposure of wrongdoing and increasing the risk of corruption. This impairs foreign investments as well as economic growth and well-being in the country.

    Kyrgyzstan’s international partners have warned that the adoption of the law on ‘foreign representatives’ would negatively affect development assistance programmes in the country. For example, in a joint statement issued on 14 March 2024, the Delegation of the EU to the Kyrgyz Republic and the Embassies of Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States stated that the proposed provisions would ‘jeopardise our ability to provide assistance that improves the lives of the citizens and residents of the Kyrgyz Republic’. They stated that, if signed in its current form, the law ‘has the potential to hurt the most vulnerable who rely on the essential services – such as food, healthcare, and education – that non-profits and NGOs [non-governmental organisations] provide’. The UN Resident Coordinator in the Kyrgyz Republic pointed out that enacting the law would threaten civil society engagement in development initiatives and the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, the law contradicts the government’s aim of being among the top 30 countries in the realisation of SDGs by 2030.

    The World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have also stressed the importance that they attach to CSO engagement for the success of their in-country operations, when commenting on NGO concerns about the draft law’s potential impact on the activities of international financial institutions in Kyrgyzstan.

    As you know, as a beneficiary of the General Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+), the Kyrgyz Republic is required to effectively implement international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in return for trade benefits afforded by the EU. Thus, the adoption and enforcement of the law on ‘foreign representatives’ is likely to negatively affect these benefits. The European Commission’s recent GSP+ monitoring report on the Kyrgyz Republic highlighted shrinking space for civil society as a key area of concern and called for swift measures to reverse this negative trend in the light of the country’s ICCPR obligations. Moreover, in its resolution adopted in July 2023, the European Parliament called for a reassessment of Kyrgyzstan’s GSP+ benefits in view of recent developments, in particular draft legislation that runs counter to the country’s international human rights obligations.

    We are aware that proponents of the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ have argued that it is similar to the US Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). However, FARA differs from the proposed legislation in Kyrgyzstan in crucial respects. In particular, FARA is not targeted at non-commercial organisations that receive foreign funding. Instead, FARA requires persons who conduct certain activities ‘at the order’ or ‘under the direction or control’ of a foreign government or other foreign entity to register as an ‘agent of a foreign principal’ and periodically file supplementary information about their activities in this capacity. The purpose of FARA is to ensure the public disclosure of such information rather than to subject those registered under it to ongoing, invasive state control.

    President Japarov, when you consider whether or not to sign the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’, you are deciding the fate of civil society in Kyrgyzstan. Will you opt for the path taken by authoritarian countries, where similar legislation has been used in campaigns to systematically dismantle independent civil society, with negative implications for the reputation, prosperity and well-being of these countries? Or for a more forward-looking, inclusive, and democratically-oriented approach under which CSOs are treated as important, respected partners who can work together with state bodies in addressing societal problems, and international partners retain their confidence in Kyrgyzstan’s commitment to sustainable development?

    For the reasons outlined above, we urge you to refrain from signing the draft law on ‘foreign representatives’ and ensure that any new legislation impacting non-commercial organisations reflects Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and undergoes thorough and inclusive consultations with civil society, as well as national and international experts. When elaborating this type of legislation, it is crucial to take the opinions of CSOs directly affected by it into account.

    Signed by the following organisations (listed in the order of signature):

    International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), Belgium

    IDP Women Association Consent, Georgia

    Norwegian Helsinki Committee

    Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Hungary

    Legal Policy Research Centre, Kazakhstan

    Public Association “Dignity”, Kazakhstan

    Netherlands Helsinki Committee

    Civil Rights Defenders, Sweden

    Protection of Rights without Borders NGO, Armenia

    Swedish OSCE-network

    Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly – Vanadzor, Armenia

    Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine

    Public Verdict, Russia

    Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, Bulgaria

    Crude Accountability, USA

    Freedom Files, Poland

    Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Belarus

    Center for Participation and Development, Georgia

    Human Rights Defence Center Memorial, Russia

    Civic Assistance Committee, Russia

    Austrian Helsinki Association

    Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

    Human Rights Center (HRC), Georgia

    Macedonian Helsinki Committee

    Sova Research Center, Russia

    Promo LEX Association, Moldova

    Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland

    ARTICLE 19 Europe

    FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

    World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

    Amnesty International

    https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Kyrgyzstan-takes-page-from-Russia-in-pushing-foreign-agents-law

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • Kyrgyz Prosecutor Seeks Conviction Of Opposition Leader But No Sentence, Citing Statute Of Limitations

    PRISTINA — Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says he will not suspend a move by the central bank to ban the circulation of the Serbian dinar in parts of the country with Serbian majorities but will accept the forming of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities once Belgrade agrees to sign a basic agreement on bilateral relations.

    The basic agreement for the normalization of relations with Serbia was reached in February 2023, and includes the formation of the association, which is expected to more adequately represent predominantly ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo.

    Kosovo is not a member of the European Union or its common currency area, the eurozone, but it unilaterally adopted the euro in 2002 to help bring monetary stability and to simplify and reduce transaction costs inside and outside the country.

    Serbia, which has never acknowledged its former province’s 2008 declaration of independence, still pays many ethnic Serbs at institutions in Serb-dominated parts of Kosovo in dinars. Many also hold their pensions and get child allowances in dinars.

    “Regarding the Serbian-dinar-versus-euro issue, it is Kosovo’s central bank that decides and they have already decided on December 27 last year,” Kurti told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service in an interview on March 19, arguing that the ban, which came into force on February 1, was meant to fight financial crime and terrorism.

    “We have, thanks to them, a new regulation that is going to enhance the integrity of the financial system to fight illicit activities financing terrorism,” Kurti said in Pristina on the same day top Serbian and Kosovar negotiators were holding bilateral meeting in Brussels with EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak.

    The Serbian dinar ban was reported to be high on the agenda, although no joint trilateral meeting has been confirmed so far.

    The ban ratcheted up already high tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and threatened to scupper efforts by Washington and Brussels to get the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade back on track.

    “The dinar is not banned in Kosovo, but the euro is the only means of payment,” Kurti told RFE/RL, echoing the central bank’s line that the ban doesn’t stop anyone from accepting money from any country, it just means the money is converted into euros.

    Still, the conversion adds a layer of cost and complication to the daily lives of ethnic Serbs still tied to the dinar.

    “We cannot allow bagfuls of dinars in cash to enter our country. (It can happen) only through official financial channels with full transparency, who sends money to whom and for what purpose,” Kurti said, adding that any disparities on the ground would have time to be smoothed out over the three-month transition period.

    “Serbia can send dinars, we will exchange them into euros and Serbs in Kosovo can benefit from that financial aid,” Kurti added.

    However, the U.S. envoy to the Western Balkans last week warned that the ban had caused problems for some citizens in the region and challenges for the U.S.-Kosovo relationship.

    Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar told RFE/RL on March 14 that Kosovo’s controversial decision on the dinar was “an issue that we need to address immediately.”

    Escobar said that the issue had presented challenges in the bilateral relationship, although Washington remains Kosovo’s most reliable ally.

    The U.S. envoy also said that his proposals for resolving the issue had been rejected by Kurti during their meeting.

    “It’s not me as prime minister to decide about this thing,” Kurti told RFE/RL when asked about why he refused Escobar’s solutions.

    “We’re a democracy where powers and duties are separated. Therefore, I can only help the central bank to affect a smooth transition,” Kurti said, declining to elaborate on Escobar’s proposals.

    “Let those who made the proposals speak,” he added, reiterating that he cannot cancel the decision of an independent institution.

    “No suspension will come out of talking to me, because the bank is an independent institution,” he said, adding that its governor reports only to parliament, not the government.

    Asked whether he would at least advise the bank to extend the transition period, Kurti replied: “I cannot also advise the central bank of Kosovo. The governor has his own advisers.”

    Referring to the basic agreement, Kurti said it was Belgrade that was hampering its implementation.

    “I want the normalization of relations and I think that the signing of the basic agreement and its implementation annex can certainly cancel previous violations on one hand and, on the other hand can bring legal certainty for the future.

    “The problem is that eight out of 11 articles of the basic agreement have been violated by Belgrade,” Kurti said, mentioning a letter sent by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to the European Union, in which, according to him, her government said they were withdrawing their pledge to the deal “because they will never recognize independence of Kosovo, never accept Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations, and likewise they are not going to respect the territorial integrity of our country.”

    Referring to the forming of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, which is mentioned in Article 7 of the basic agreement, Kurti reiterated his government’s statement from October 27, which blamed Serbia for refusing to sign the document endorsed by the leaders of France, Italy, and Germany.

    “What more can I do? We are leaders who are supposed to turn the text that we have agreed upon into signed agreements. Obviously, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic initially said yes to the agreement without intending to sign it and then regretted saying yes, as Mrs. Brnabic’s letter explained,” Kurti said.

    “I believe that whoever mentions an association of Serbian-majority municipalities outside the basic agreement or before it serving Serbia’s quest to turn Kosovo into Bosnia,” he said, adding that such an association has to be established withing the framework of the Kosovar Constitution.

    “In Brussels I said one cannot serve coffee without a cup. If you ask for coffee without a cup, I will show you an empty cup. The cup is the Republic of Kosovo. What is the legal framework of the association? Is it the constitution of the Republic of Kosova or that of Serbia? If I’m there, it’s the constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. No coffee without a cup.

    “This is crucial to understand. Belgrade wants to put the cart before the horses. It’s not possible. There will be no movement as we have seen since February and March last year,” he said, adding that he was ready to go to Brussels again together with Vucic.

    Referring to the frustration voiced by the United States and the European Union because of the lack of progress toward the Serbian dinar and the municipalities association, Kurti said that while they are indispensable partners, sometimes differences may arise.

    “I consider United States an indispensable ally, friend, and partner. But this does not mean that we have an identical stance toward official Belgrade. As the prime minister of Kosovo, I cannot regard Belgrade through the eyes of the State Department…they do not see Belgrade as I see them. We do not have an identical stance. We have a different experience and history,” Kurti said.


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Reporters Without Borders Welcomes Kyrgyz Decision To Stop Blocking Of Kloop Website

    PRISTINA — Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti says he will not suspend a move by the central bank to ban the circulation of the Serbian dinar in parts of the country with Serbian majorities but will accept the forming of an Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities once Belgrade agrees to sign a basic agreement on bilateral relations.

    The basic agreement for the normalization of relations with Serbia was reached in February 2023, and includes the formation of the association, which is expected to more adequately represent predominantly ethnic Serb areas in Kosovo.

    Kosovo is not a member of the European Union or its common currency area, the eurozone, but it unilaterally adopted the euro in 2002 to help bring monetary stability and to simplify and reduce transaction costs inside and outside the country.

    Serbia, which has never acknowledged its former province’s 2008 declaration of independence, still pays many ethnic Serbs at institutions in Serb-dominated parts of Kosovo in dinars. Many also hold their pensions and get child allowances in dinars.

    “Regarding the Serbian-dinar-versus-euro issue, it is Kosovo’s central bank that decides and they have already decided on December 27 last year,” Kurti told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service in an interview on March 19, arguing that the ban, which came into force on February 1, was meant to fight financial crime and terrorism.

    “We have, thanks to them, a new regulation that is going to enhance the integrity of the financial system to fight illicit activities financing terrorism,” Kurti said in Pristina on the same day top Serbian and Kosovar negotiators were holding bilateral meeting in Brussels with EU special envoy Miroslav Lajcak.

    The Serbian dinar ban was reported to be high on the agenda, although no joint trilateral meeting has been confirmed so far.

    The ban ratcheted up already high tensions between Serbia and Kosovo and threatened to scupper efforts by Washington and Brussels to get the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade back on track.

    “The dinar is not banned in Kosovo, but the euro is the only means of payment,” Kurti told RFE/RL, echoing the central bank’s line that the ban doesn’t stop anyone from accepting money from any country, it just means the money is converted into euros.

    Still, the conversion adds a layer of cost and complication to the daily lives of ethnic Serbs still tied to the dinar.

    “We cannot allow bagfuls of dinars in cash to enter our country. (It can happen) only through official financial channels with full transparency, who sends money to whom and for what purpose,” Kurti said, adding that any disparities on the ground would have time to be smoothed out over the three-month transition period.

    “Serbia can send dinars, we will exchange them into euros and Serbs in Kosovo can benefit from that financial aid,” Kurti added.

    However, the U.S. envoy to the Western Balkans last week warned that the ban had caused problems for some citizens in the region and challenges for the U.S.-Kosovo relationship.

    Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Gabriel Escobar told RFE/RL on March 14 that Kosovo’s controversial decision on the dinar was “an issue that we need to address immediately.”

    Escobar said that the issue had presented challenges in the bilateral relationship, although Washington remains Kosovo’s most reliable ally.

    The U.S. envoy also said that his proposals for resolving the issue had been rejected by Kurti during their meeting.

    “It’s not me as prime minister to decide about this thing,” Kurti told RFE/RL when asked about why he refused Escobar’s solutions.

    “We’re a democracy where powers and duties are separated. Therefore, I can only help the central bank to affect a smooth transition,” Kurti said, declining to elaborate on Escobar’s proposals.

    “Let those who made the proposals speak,” he added, reiterating that he cannot cancel the decision of an independent institution.

    “No suspension will come out of talking to me, because the bank is an independent institution,” he said, adding that its governor reports only to parliament, not the government.

    Asked whether he would at least advise the bank to extend the transition period, Kurti replied: “I cannot also advise the central bank of Kosovo. The governor has his own advisers.”

    Referring to the basic agreement, Kurti said it was Belgrade that was hampering its implementation.

    “I want the normalization of relations and I think that the signing of the basic agreement and its implementation annex can certainly cancel previous violations on one hand and, on the other hand can bring legal certainty for the future.

    “The problem is that eight out of 11 articles of the basic agreement have been violated by Belgrade,” Kurti said, mentioning a letter sent by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to the European Union, in which, according to him, her government said they were withdrawing their pledge to the deal “because they will never recognize independence of Kosovo, never accept Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations, and likewise they are not going to respect the territorial integrity of our country.”

    Referring to the forming of the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities, which is mentioned in Article 7 of the basic agreement, Kurti reiterated his government’s statement from October 27, which blamed Serbia for refusing to sign the document endorsed by the leaders of France, Italy, and Germany.

    “What more can I do? We are leaders who are supposed to turn the text that we have agreed upon into signed agreements. Obviously, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic initially said yes to the agreement without intending to sign it and then regretted saying yes, as Mrs. Brnabic’s letter explained,” Kurti said.

    “I believe that whoever mentions an association of Serbian-majority municipalities outside the basic agreement or before it serving Serbia’s quest to turn Kosovo into Bosnia,” he said, adding that such an association has to be established withing the framework of the Kosovar Constitution.

    “In Brussels I said one cannot serve coffee without a cup. If you ask for coffee without a cup, I will show you an empty cup. The cup is the Republic of Kosovo. What is the legal framework of the association? Is it the constitution of the Republic of Kosova or that of Serbia? If I’m there, it’s the constitution of the Republic of Kosovo. No coffee without a cup.

    “This is crucial to understand. Belgrade wants to put the cart before the horses. It’s not possible. There will be no movement as we have seen since February and March last year,” he said, adding that he was ready to go to Brussels again together with Vucic.

    Referring to the frustration voiced by the United States and the European Union because of the lack of progress toward the Serbian dinar and the municipalities association, Kurti said that while they are indispensable partners, sometimes differences may arise.

    “I consider United States an indispensable ally, friend, and partner. But this does not mean that we have an identical stance toward official Belgrade. As the prime minister of Kosovo, I cannot regard Belgrade through the eyes of the State Department…they do not see Belgrade as I see them. We do not have an identical stance. We have a different experience and history,” Kurti said.


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyz, Tajik Officials Agree On 11 More Kilometers Of Border

    Vladimir Putin has claimed a fifth presidential term with a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election that has been condemned by the West as neither free nor fair as the Russian leader seeks to prove overwhelming popular support for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and increasingly repressive policies.

    With 99.75 percent of ballots counted, Putin won another six-year term with a post-Soviet record of 87.29 percent of the vote, the Central Elections Committee (TsIK) said on March 18, adding that turnout was also at a “record” level, with 77.44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.

    The 71-year old Putin — who has ruled as either president or prime minister since 2000 — is now set to surpass Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s nearly 30-year reign to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than two centuries.

    “This election has been based on repression and intimidation,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists in Brussels on March 18 as the bloc’s foreign ministers gathered to discuss the election, among other issues.

    The March 15-17 vote is the first for Putin since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that has killed tens of thousands of Russians and led to a clear break in relations with the West. In holding what has widely been viewed as faux elections, Putin wants to show that he has the nation’s full support, experts said.

    The vote was also held in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are located. Moscow illegally annexed the regions since launching the invasion, though it remains unclear how much of the territory it controls.

    The Kremlin’s goal “is to get as many people as possible to sign off on Russia’s war against Ukraine. The idea is to get millions of Russian citizens to retroactively approve the decision Putin single-handedly made two years ago,” Maksim Trudolyubov, a senior fellow at the Kennan Institute, wrote in a note ahead of the vote.

    In remarks shortly after he was declared the winner, Putin said the election showed that the nation was “one team.”

    But Western leaders condemned the vote, with the White House National Security Council spokesperson saying they “are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”

    British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said “this is not what free and fair elections look like,” adding in his message on X, formerly Twitter, that illegal elections have also been held on occupied Ukrainian territory.

    The French Foreign Ministry said Putin’s reelection came amid a wave of repression against civil society. It also praised in a statement the courage of “the many Russian citizens who peacefully protested against this attack on their fundamental political rights.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin has become “sick with power” and he is just “simulating” elections.

    “This imitation of ‘elections’ has no legitimacy and cannot have any. This person must end up in the dock in The Hague [at the International UN Tribunal for War Crimes],” Zelenskiy said on X.

    Putin’s allies were quick to heap praise on the Russian leader for his election success.

    China, one of Russia’s most importants allies, congratulated Putin, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying President Xi Jinping and the Russian leader “will continue to maintain close exchanges, lead the two countries to continue to uphold long-standing good-neighborly friendship, deepen comprehensive strategic coordination.”

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Putin’s victory “decisive,” the state news agency IRNA reported.

    WATCH: Leading psychiatrists discuss how excessive power can impact brain functioning and what the impulse for total control reveals about the mind and personality traits of authority figures.

    Putin was opposed by three relatively unknown, Kremlin-friendly politicians whose campaign was barely noticeable. The main intrigue was whether Russians would heed opposition calls to gather at polling stations at noon on March 17 to silently protest against Putin’s rule.

    Russian media had reported in the months leading up to the election that the Kremlin was determined to engineer a victory for Putin that would surpass the 2018 results, when he won 77.5 percent of the vote with a turnout of 67.5 percent.

    The Kremlin banned anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin from the ballot after tens of thousands of voters lined up in the cold to support his candidacy. Nadezhdin threatened to undermine the narrative of overwhelming support for Putin and his war, experts said.

    Independent election observers were barred from working at this year’s presidential election for the first time in post-Soviet history, experts said. Russian elections have been notorious for ballot stuffing and other irregularities.

    The vote was also held in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are located.

    The United States called the elections neither fair nor free.

    ‘Noon Against Putin’

    With options to express resistance severely limited by the lack of competition and repressive laws, opposition leaders called on voters opposed to Putin to gather near polls at noon to show the Kremlin and the country that they were still a force.

    Russia’s opposition movement suffered a serious blow last month when Aleksei Navalny, Putin’s fiercest and most popular critic, died in unclear circumstances in a maximum-security prison in the Arctic where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism widely seen as politically motivated.

    Long lines formed at polling stations across Russia’s 11 time zones at the designated time for the “Noon Against Putin” protest, including in Novosibirsk, Chita, Yekaterinburg, Perm, and Moscow among other Russian cities.

    “We’re not really expecting anything, but I’d somehow like to make a record of this election for myself, tick the box for myself, so, when talking about it later, I could say that I didn’t just sit at home, but came and tried to do something,” said one Russian who came to vote at noon.

    “The action has achieved its goals,” Ivan Zhdanov, the head the Anti-Corruption Foundation formerly headed by Navalny, said in a YouTube video. “The action has shown that there is another Russia, there are people who stand against Putin.”

    The Moscow prosecutor’s office had earlier warned of criminal prosecution against those who interfered with the vote, a step it said was necessary due to social-media posts “containing calls for an unlimited number of people to simultaneously arrive to participate in uncoordinated mass public events at polling stations in Moscow [at noon on March 17] in order to violate electoral legislation.”

    Lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina, who has left the country, told Current Time that if people do not bring posters and do not announce why they came to the polling station at that hour, it would be hard for the authorities to legitimately declare it a “violation.”

    But she warned that there were “some basic safety rules that you can follow if you’re worried. The first is not to discuss why you came, just to vote. And secondly, it is better to come without any visual means of agitation: without posters, flags, and so on.”

    Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission (TsIK), on March 16 said there had been 20 cases of people attempting to destroy voting sheets by pouring liquids into ballot boxes and eight incidents of people trying to destroy ballots by setting them on fire or by using smoke bombs.

    Russians living abroad also took part in the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, with hundreds of people lining up at 12 p.m. outside the Russian embassies in Sidney, Tokyo, Phuket, Dubai, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, and Yerevan among other capitals.

    “It’s not an election. It’s just a fake. And so we’re here to show that not Russians elect the current leader of Russia, that we [are] against him very severely, and that lots of people had to flee their country to be free,” said Anna, a Russian citizen living in Berlin and who gathered outside the embassy in the German capital.

    Putin was challenged by Liberal Democratic Party leader Leonid Slutsky, State Duma deputy speaker Vladislav Davankov of the New People party, and State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, none of whom opposed the war.

    The Russian leader had the full resources of the state behind him, including the media, police, state-owned companies, and election officials.


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyz Activist Under Investigation After Airing Video Critical Of Government

    Vladimir Putin has claimed a fifth presidential term with a landslide victory in a tightly controlled election that has been condemned by the West as neither free nor fair as the Russian leader seeks to prove overwhelming popular support for his full-scale invasion of Ukraine and increasingly repressive policies.

    With 99.75 percent of ballots counted, Putin won another six-year term with a post-Soviet record of 87.29 percent of the vote, the Central Elections Committee (TsIK) said on March 18, adding that turnout was also at a “record” level, with 77.44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots.

    The 71-year old Putin — who has ruled as either president or prime minister since 2000 — is now set to surpass Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s nearly 30-year reign to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than two centuries.

    “This election has been based on repression and intimidation,” the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists in Brussels on March 18 as the bloc’s foreign ministers gathered to discuss the election, among other issues.

    The March 15-17 vote is the first for Putin since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that has killed tens of thousands of Russians and led to a clear break in relations with the West. In holding what has widely been viewed as faux elections, Putin wants to show that he has the nation’s full support, experts said.

    The vote was also held in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are located. Moscow illegally annexed the regions since launching the invasion, though it remains unclear how much of the territory it controls.

    The Kremlin’s goal “is to get as many people as possible to sign off on Russia’s war against Ukraine. The idea is to get millions of Russian citizens to retroactively approve the decision Putin single-handedly made two years ago,” Maksim Trudolyubov, a senior fellow at the Kennan Institute, wrote in a note ahead of the vote.

    In remarks shortly after he was declared the winner, Putin said the election showed that the nation was “one team.”

    But Western leaders condemned the vote, with the White House National Security Council spokesperson saying they “are obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him.”

    British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said “this is not what free and fair elections look like,” adding in his message on X, formerly Twitter, that illegal elections have also been held on occupied Ukrainian territory.

    The French Foreign Ministry said Putin’s reelection came amid a wave of repression against civil society. It also praised in a statement the courage of “the many Russian citizens who peacefully protested against this attack on their fundamental political rights.”

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Putin has become “sick with power” and he is just “simulating” elections.

    “This imitation of ‘elections’ has no legitimacy and cannot have any. This person must end up in the dock in The Hague [at the International UN Tribunal for War Crimes],” Zelenskiy said on X.

    Putin’s allies were quick to heap praise on the Russian leader for his election success.

    China, one of Russia’s most importants allies, congratulated Putin, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying President Xi Jinping and the Russian leader “will continue to maintain close exchanges, lead the two countries to continue to uphold long-standing good-neighborly friendship, deepen comprehensive strategic coordination.”

    Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called Putin’s victory “decisive,” the state news agency IRNA reported.

    WATCH: Leading psychiatrists discuss how excessive power can impact brain functioning and what the impulse for total control reveals about the mind and personality traits of authority figures.

    Putin was opposed by three relatively unknown, Kremlin-friendly politicians whose campaign was barely noticeable. The main intrigue was whether Russians would heed opposition calls to gather at polling stations at noon on March 17 to silently protest against Putin’s rule.

    Russian media had reported in the months leading up to the election that the Kremlin was determined to engineer a victory for Putin that would surpass the 2018 results, when he won 77.5 percent of the vote with a turnout of 67.5 percent.

    The Kremlin banned anti-war politician Boris Nadezhdin from the ballot after tens of thousands of voters lined up in the cold to support his candidacy. Nadezhdin threatened to undermine the narrative of overwhelming support for Putin and his war, experts said.

    Independent election observers were barred from working at this year’s presidential election for the first time in post-Soviet history, experts said. Russian elections have been notorious for ballot stuffing and other irregularities.

    The vote was also held in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, where hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are located.

    The United States called the elections neither fair nor free.

    ‘Noon Against Putin’

    With options to express resistance severely limited by the lack of competition and repressive laws, opposition leaders called on voters opposed to Putin to gather near polls at noon to show the Kremlin and the country that they were still a force.

    Russia’s opposition movement suffered a serious blow last month when Aleksei Navalny, Putin’s fiercest and most popular critic, died in unclear circumstances in a maximum-security prison in the Arctic where he was serving a 19-year sentence on charges of extremism widely seen as politically motivated.

    Long lines formed at polling stations across Russia’s 11 time zones at the designated time for the “Noon Against Putin” protest, including in Novosibirsk, Chita, Yekaterinburg, Perm, and Moscow among other Russian cities.

    “We’re not really expecting anything, but I’d somehow like to make a record of this election for myself, tick the box for myself, so, when talking about it later, I could say that I didn’t just sit at home, but came and tried to do something,” said one Russian who came to vote at noon.

    “The action has achieved its goals,” Ivan Zhdanov, the head the Anti-Corruption Foundation formerly headed by Navalny, said in a YouTube video. “The action has shown that there is another Russia, there are people who stand against Putin.”

    The Moscow prosecutor’s office had earlier warned of criminal prosecution against those who interfered with the vote, a step it said was necessary due to social-media posts “containing calls for an unlimited number of people to simultaneously arrive to participate in uncoordinated mass public events at polling stations in Moscow [at noon on March 17] in order to violate electoral legislation.”

    Lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina, who has left the country, told Current Time that if people do not bring posters and do not announce why they came to the polling station at that hour, it would be hard for the authorities to legitimately declare it a “violation.”

    But she warned that there were “some basic safety rules that you can follow if you’re worried. The first is not to discuss why you came, just to vote. And secondly, it is better to come without any visual means of agitation: without posters, flags, and so on.”

    Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission (TsIK), on March 16 said there had been 20 cases of people attempting to destroy voting sheets by pouring liquids into ballot boxes and eight incidents of people trying to destroy ballots by setting them on fire or by using smoke bombs.

    Russians living abroad also took part in the “Noon Against Putin” campaign, with hundreds of people lining up at 12 p.m. outside the Russian embassies in Sidney, Tokyo, Phuket, Dubai, Istanbul, Berlin, Paris, and Yerevan among other capitals.

    “It’s not an election. It’s just a fake. And so we’re here to show that not Russians elect the current leader of Russia, that we [are] against him very severely, and that lots of people had to flee their country to be free,” said Anna, a Russian citizen living in Berlin and who gathered outside the embassy in the German capital.

    Putin was challenged by Liberal Democratic Party leader Leonid Slutsky, State Duma deputy speaker Vladislav Davankov of the New People party, and State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party, none of whom opposed the war.

    The Russian leader had the full resources of the state behind him, including the media, police, state-owned companies, and election officials.


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyzstan parliament approves ‘foreign agents’ law

    Stockholm, March 15, 2024—Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov should reject Russian-inspired legislation that would designate externally funded media rights groups and nonprofits that run news outlets as “foreign representatives,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

    On Thursday, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved in a third and final reading, without debate, a bill requiring nonprofits that receive foreign funding and engage in what it defines as political activities to register as “foreign representatives,” according to news reports.

    Japarov, who recently defended the law in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has a month to return the bill or sign it into law.

    The bill, an amended version of a draft law previously criticized by CPJ, does not directly target news outlets but would apply to media rights organizations and nonprofits that run several of Kyrgyzstan’s prominent independent news websites, according to CPJ’s review.

    A new provision requires organizations designated as “foreign representatives” to label their publications as being produced by a foreign representative. Other clauses grant authorities sweeping powers of oversight over the activities of “foreign representatives” and allow them to suspend or shutter nonprofits for alleged violations of the law.

    “The ‘foreign agents’ bill passed by Kyrgyzstan’s parliament copies many of the worst aspects of Russia’s foreign agent legislation. It is clearly focused on stigmatizing nonprofits working in news media and threatens to hamstring the work of press freedom organizations,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov must show that his stated commitment to free speech is more than empty words by vetoing the bill and withdrawing his support for any form of foreign agent law.”

    Submitted to parliament in May, the bill has elicited extensive international criticism, including from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. special rapporteurs, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Blinken.

    The latest version of the bill, amended by parliament in February ahead of the second reading, removes a controversial clause stipulating prison terms of up to 10 years for vaguely defined offenses, according to CPJ’s review and an analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL).

    Under the bill, externally funded nonprofits must apply to a public register of “foreign representatives” if they participate in activities defined by the law as “political”—including “disseminating … opinions on decisions taken by state organs,” issuing public appeals to state organs and officials, and “shaping socio-political views and convictions, including by conducting surveys of public opinion.”

    The law would require nonprofits to carry out a costly independent audit report each year, according to the ICNL. It would also grant authorities the right to request their internal documents, to send government representatives to participate in nonprofits’ internal activities, and to check—by as-yet-unspecified means—whether their activities and expenditures correspond to the aims listed in their articles of incorporation, it said. The U.N. special rapporteurs said these clauses “may amount to almost unrestricted administrative control over these associations.”

    Authorities would have the power to suspend the activities of nonprofits for up to six months and freeze their bank accounts if they fail to declare themselves as foreign representatives or to label their publications after receiving a warning. Nonprofits that fail to rectify such omissions after suspension can be liquidated by the courts.

    In his letter to Blinken, Japarov said Kyrgyzstan needed to ensure financial transparency of media outlets and NGOs. However, Aibek Askarbekov, an independent human rights lawyer, told CPJ that authorities already had full access to financial data of nonprofits, which are required to publish information about sources of income and expenditures online. The bill instead aims at “exerting tight control” over nonprofits, he said.

    Parliamentary approval of the bill comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press. In January, Kyrgyz authorities arrested 11 journalists linked to the investigative outlet Temirov Live and raided the privately owned news agency 24.kg. In February, authorities shuttered the prominent news website Kloop.

    CPJ’s emails to Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, lawmaker Nadira Narmatova, who introduced the bill to parliament, and the Office of the President requesting comment on the bill did not receive any replies.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Activist Says Kyrgyz President Accepted $3 Million From Tycoon In 2020

    Russians have begun a second day of voting in a presidential election that has seen sporadic protests as some, defying threats of stiff prison sentences, showed their anger over a process set up to hand Vladimir Putin another six years of rule.

    By midday of March 16, Russian police had opened at least 15 criminal probes into incidents of vandalism in polling stations, independent media reported.

    More than one-third of Russia’s 110 million eligible voters cast ballots in person and online on the first day of the country’s three-day presidential election, the Central Election Commission (TsIK) said after polls closed on March 15 in the country’s westernmost region of Kaliningrad.

    Balloting started up again on March 16 in the Far East of Russia and will continue in all 11 time zones of the country, as well as the occupied Crimean Peninsula and four other Ukrainian regions that Moscow partially controls and baselessly claims are part of Russia.

    Putin is poised to win and extend his rule by six more years after any serious opponents were barred from running against him amid a brutal crackdown on dissent and the independent media.

    The ruthless crackdown that has crippled independent media and human rights groups began before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched, but has been ratcheted up since.

    Almost exactly one month before the polls opened, Putin’s most vocal critic, opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, died in an isolated Arctic prison amid suspicious circumstances as he served sentences seen as politically motivated.

    Some Russians expressed their anger over Putin’s authoritarian rule on March 15, vandalizing ballot boxes with a green antiseptic dye known as “zelyonka” and other liquids.

    Among them was a 43-year-old member of the local election commission in the Lenin district of Izhevsk city, the Interior Ministry said on March 16.

    The official was detained by police after she attempted to spill zelyonka into a touchscreen voting machine, the ministry said. Police didn’t release the woman’s name, but said she was a member of the Communist Party.

    Similar incidents were reported in at least nine cities, including St. Petersburg, Sochi, and Volgograd, while at least four voters burned their ballots in polling stations.

    In Moscow, police arrested a woman who burned her ballot inside a voting booth in the city’s polling station N1527 on March 15, Russian news agencies reported, citing election officials in the Russian capital.

    The news outlet Sota reported that that woman burned a ballot with “Bring back my husband” handwritten on it, and posted video purportedly showing the incident.

    There also was one report of a firebombing at a polling station in Moscow, while In Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, a 21-year-old woman was detained after she threw a Molotov cocktail at an entrance of a local school that houses two polling stations.

    “It’s the first time I’ve see something like this — or at least [such attacks] have not been so spectacular before,” Roman Udot, an election analyst and a board member of the independent election monitor Golos, told RFE/RL.

    “The state launched a war against [the election process] and this is the very striking harvest it gets in return. People resent these elections as a result and have started using them for completely different purposes [than voting].”

    Russia’s ruling United Russia party claimed on March 16 that it was facing a widespread denial-of-service attack — a form of cyberattack that snarls internet use — against its online presence. The party said it had suspended nonessential services to repel the attack.

    Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers proposed amendments to the Criminal Code to toughen punishments for those who try to disrupt elections “by arson and other dangerous means.” Under the current law, such actions are punishable by five years in prison, and the lawmakers proposed to extend it to up to eight years in prison.

    No Serious Challengers

    Before his death, Navalny had hoped to use the vote to demonstrate the public’s discontent with both the war and Putin’s iron-fisted rule.

    He called on voters to cast their ballot at 12 p.m. on March 17, naming the action “Noon Against Putin.” HIs wife and others have since continued to call for the protest to be carried out.

    Viral images of long lines forming at this time would indicate the size of the opposition and undermine the landslide result the Kremlin is expected to concoct.

    Putin, 71, who has been president or prime minister for nearly 25 years, is running against three low-profile politicians — Liberal Democratic Party leader Leonid Slutsky, State Duma deputy speaker Vladislav Davankov of the New People party, and State Duma lawmaker Nikolai Kharitonov of the Communist Party — whose policy positions are hardly distinguishable from Putin’s.

    Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old anti-war politician, was rejected last month by the TsIK because of what it called invalid support signatures on his application to be registered as a candidate. He appealed, but the TsIk’s decision was upheld by Russia’s Supreme Court.

    “Would like to congratulate Vladimir Putin on his landslide victory in the elections starting today,” European Council President Charles Michel wrote in a sarcastic post on X, formerly Twitter, on March 15.

    “No opposition. No freedom. No choice.”

    Ukraine and many Western governments have condemned Russia for holding the vote in regions it occupies parts of, calling the move illegal.

    UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres added his voice to the criticism on March 15, saying he “condemns the efforts of the Russian Federation to hold its presidential elections in areas of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation.”

    His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, added that the “attempted illegal annexation” of those regions has “no validity” under international law.

    Many observers say Putin warded off even the faintest of challengers to ensure a large margin of victory that he can point to as evidence that Russians back the war in Ukraine and his handling of it.

    With reporting by Reuters and AP


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Kyrgyz Villages Rally To Demand Release Of Border-Deal Protesters

    Ukraine and its regional allies on March 10 assailed reported comments by Pope Francis in which the pontiff suggested opening negotiations with Moscow and used the term “white flag,” while the Vatican later appeared to back off some of the remarks, saying Francis was not speaking about “capitulation.”

    Francis was quoted on March 9 in a partially released interview suggesting Ukraine, facing possible defeat, should have the “courage” to sit down with Russia for peace negotiations, saying there is no shame in waving the “white flag.”

    Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine

    RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hit out in a Telegram post and in his nightly video address, saying — without mentioning the pope — that “the church should be among the people. And not 2,500 kilometers away, somewhere, to mediate virtually between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”

    Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba reacted more directly on social media, saying, “When it comes to the ‘white flag,’ we know this Vatican strategy from the first half of the 20th century.”

    Many historians have been critical of the Vatican during World War II, saying Pope Pius XII remained silent as the Holocaust raged. The Vatican has long argued that, at the time, it couldn’t verify diplomatic reports of Nazi atrocities and therefore could not denounce them.

    Kuleba, in his social media post, wrote: “I urge the avoidance of repeating the mistakes of the past and to support Ukraine and its people in their just struggle for their lives.

    “The strongest is the one who, in the battle between good and evil, stands on the side of good rather than attempting to put them on the same footing and call it ‘negotiations,’” Kuleba said.

    “Our flag is a yellow-and-blue one. This is the flag by which we live, die, and prevail. We shall never raise any other flags,” added Kuleba, who also thanked Francis for his “constant prayers for peace” and said he hoped the pontiff will visit Ukraine, home of some 1 million Catholics.

    Zelenskiy has remained firm in not speaking directly to Russia unless terms of his “peace formula” are reached.

    Ukraine’s terms call for the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine, restoring the country’s 1991 post-Soviet borders, and holding Russia accountable for its actions. The Kremlin has rejected such conditions.

    Following criticism of the pope’s reported comments, the head of the Vatican press service, Matteo Bruni, explained that with his words regarding Ukraine, Francis intended to “call for a cease-fire and restore the courage of negotiations,” but did not mean capitulation.

    “The pope uses the image of the white flag proposed by the interviewer to imply an end to hostilities, a truce that is achieved through the courage to begin negotiations,” Bruni said.

    “Elsewhere in the interview…referring to any situation of war, the pope clearly stated: ‘Negotiations are never capitulations,’” Bruni added.

    The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Svyatoslav Shevchuk, said Ukraine was “wounded but unconquered.”

    “Believe me, no one would think of giving up. Even where hostilities are taking place today; listen to our people in Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Odesa, Kharkiv, Sumy! Because we know that if Ukraine, God forbid, was at least partially conquered, the line of death would spread,” Shevchuk said at St. George’s Church in New York.

    Andriy Yurash, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican, told RAI News that “you don’t negotiate with terrorists, with those who are recognized as criminals,” referring to the Russian leadership and President Vladimir Putin. “No one tried to put Hitler at ease.”

    Ukraine’s regional allies also expressed anger about the pope’s remarks.

    “How about, for balance, encouraging Putin to have the courage to withdraw his army from Ukraine? Peace would immediately ensue without the need for negotiations,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on social media.

    Lithuanian President Edgars Rinkevichs wrote on social media: “My Sunday morning conclusion: You can’t capitulate to evil, you have to fight it and defeat it, so that evil raises the white flag and surrenders.”

    Alexandra Valkenburg, ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to the Holy See, wrote “Russia…can end this war immediately by respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. EU supports Ukraine and its peace plan.”

    With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Jailed Kyrgyz Blogger Transferred To House Arrest

    NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says NATO allies are committed to doing more to ensure that Ukraine “prevails” in its battle to repel invading Russian forces, with the alliance having “significantly changed” its stance on providing more advanced weapons to Kyiv.

    Speaking in an interview with RFE/RL to mark the second anniversary of Russia launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the NATO chief said solidarity with Ukraine was not only correct, it’s also “in our own security interests.”

    “We can expect that the NATO allies will do more to ensure that Ukraine prevails, because this has been so clearly stated by NATO allies,” Stoltenberg said.

    Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine

    RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

    “I always stress that this is not charity. This is an investment in our own security and and that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day,” he added.

    Ukraine is in desperate need of financial and military assistance amid signs of political fatigue in the West as the war kicked off by Russia’s unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark on February 24.

    In excerpts from the interview released earlier in the week, Stoltenberg said the death of Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and the first Russian gains on the battlefield in months should help focus the attention of NATO and its allies on the urgent need to support Ukraine.

    The death of Navalny in an Arctic prison on February 16 under suspicious circumstances — authorities say it will be another two weeks before the body may be released to the family — adds to the need to ensure Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule does not go unchecked.

    “I strongly believe that the best way to honor the memory of Aleksei Navalny is to ensure that President Putin doesn’t win on the battlefield, but that Ukraine prevails,” Stoltenberg said.

    Stoltenberg said the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the city of Avdiyivka last week after months of intense fighting demonstrated the need for more military aid, “to ensure that Russia doesn’t make further gains.”

    “We don’t believe that the fact that the Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from Avdiyivka in in itself will significantly change the strategic situation,” he said.

    “But it reminds us of that Russia is willing to sacrifice a lot of soldiers. It also just makes minor territorial gains and also that Russia has received significant military support supplies from Iran, from North Korea and have been able to ramp up their own production.”

    Ukraine’s allies have been focused on a $61 billion U.S. military aid package, but while that remains stalled in the House of Representatives, other countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Japan, have stepped up their aid.

    “Of course, we are focused on the United States, but we also see how other allies are really stepping up and delivering significant support to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in the interview.

    On the question of when Ukraine will be able to deploy F-16 fighter jets, Stoltenberg said it was not possible to say. He reiterated that Ukraine’s allies all want them to be there as early as possible but said the effect of the F-16s will be stronger if pilots are well trained and maintenance crews and other support personnel are well-prepared.

    “So, I think we have to listen to the military experts exactly when we will be ready to or when allies will be ready to start sending and to delivering the F-16s,” he said. “The sooner the better.”

    Ukraine has actively sought U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. The United States in August approved sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as soon as pilot training is completed.

    It will be up to each ally to decide whether to deliver F-16s to Ukraine, and allies have different policies, Stoltenberg said. But at the same time the war in Ukraine is a war of aggression, and Ukraine has the right to self-defense, including striking legitimate Russian military targets outside Ukraine.

    Asked about the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House, Stoltenberg said that regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections this year, the United States will remain a committed NATO ally because it is in the security interest of the United States.

    Trump, the current front-runner in the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, drew sharp rebukes from President Joe Biden, European leaders, and NATO after suggesting at a campaign rally on February 10 that the United States might not defend alliance members from a potential Russian invasion if they don’t pay enough toward their own defense.

    Stoltenberg said the United States was safer and stronger together with more than 30 allies — something that neither China nor Russia has.

    The criticism of NATO has been aimed at allies underspending on defense, he said.

    But Stoltenberg said new data shows that more and more NATO allies are meeting the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, and this demonstrates that the alliance has come a long way since it pledged in 2014 to meet the target.

    At that time three members of NATO spent 2 percent of GDP on defense. Now it’s 18, he said.

    “If you add together what all European allies do and compare that to the GDP in total in Europe, it’s actually 2 percent today,” he said. “That’s good, but it’s not enough because we want [each NATO member] to spend 2 percent. And we also make sure that 2 percent is a minimum.”


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • CPJ condemns Kyrgyzstan’s order to shut investigative outlet Kloop

    Stockholm, February 12, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by a Kyrgyzstan court decision on Friday to shutter Kloop Media, a nonprofit that runs the country’s leading investigative news website Kloop.

    “After last month’s mass arrest of journalists linked to anti-corruption outlet Temirov Live, the forced closure of Kloop—one of the most respected media outlets not just in Kyrgyzstan but in the whole of Central Asia—signals Kyrgyz authorities’ intent to wipe out an investigative reporting hub that has previously set the country apart from its authoritarian neighbors,” Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in New York on Monday. “Authorities in Kyrgyzstan should allow Kloop to remain open, reverse their escalating campaign against the press, and allow independent media to work freely.”

    On February 9, Oktyabrsky District Court in the capital, Bishkek, granted an application by the city’s prosecutor to shutter Kloop Media on the grounds that the organization’s charter does not cover journalistic activity, according to news reports.

    Prosecutors also cited expert assessments commissioned by the court and Kyrgyzstan’s state security services alleging that Kloop’s reporting contained “harsh criticism” of the authorities and that its “purely negative” coverage was demoralizing the public and causing “psychological disorders,” “sexual anomalies,” drug addiction, and “suicidal disposition” among the population.

    Kloop’s chief editor, Anna Kapushenko, told CPJ that the outlet rejected the claims and planned to continue operating pending appeal.

    Kloop, a partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project global investigative network, frequently publishes investigative and fact-checking articles critical of Kyrgyz authorities.

    On August 22, prosecutors applied to the courts to shutter the outlet on the same day that Kloop published an investigation alleging relatives of senior officials including President Sadyr Japarov were involved in the construction of a soccer academy in Kyrgyzstan franchised by the Spanish soccer club Barcelona.

    In September, authorities initiated a block on the outlet’s website days before the publication of another investigation into the president’s family.

    In recent months, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press.

    In January, police arrested 11 current and former staff of the investigative outlet Temirov Live, after deporting its Kyrgyzstan-born founder Bolot Temirov, and security services raided and brought a criminal case against privately owned news agency 24.kg.

    Last year, authorities blocked Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) for eight months, and ordered it to shutter, until the outlet removed a report about border clashes from its websites.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Bishkek Court Shuts Down Leading Kyrgyz Independent Media Foundation

    President Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson, a U.S. commentator who has made a name for himself by spreading conspiracy theories and has questioned Washington’s support for Kyiv in its fight against invading Russian troops, has been widely criticized for giving the Russian leader a propaganda platform in his first interview with an American journalist since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

    In the more than two-hour interview, released on Carlson’s website early on February 9, Putin again claimed Ukraine was a threat to Russia because the West was drawing the country into NATO — an assertion the military alliance has called false — while avoiding topics such as his brutal crackdown at home on civil society and free speech.

    Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine

    RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

    The interview took place as Putin hopes that Western support for Kyiv will wane and morale among Ukrainians will flag to the point where his war aims are achievable. It also comes as U.S. military support for Kyiv is in question as Republican lawmakers block a $60 billion aid package proposed by President Joe Biden, and a reshuffle of Ukraine’s dismissal of the top commander of the armed forces after a counteroffensive fell far short of its goals.

    Putin urged the United States to press Kyiv to stop fighting and cut a deal with Russia, which occupies about one-fifth of Ukraine.

    Carlson rarely challenged Putin, who gave a long and rambling lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine, failing to bring up credible accusations from international rights groups that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine — Putin himself has been issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the conflict — or the imprisonment of opposition figures such as Aleksei Navalny and Vladimir Kara-Murza on trumped up charges that appear politically motivated.

    “Putin got his message out the way he wanted to,” said Ian Bremmer, a New York-based political scientist and president of Eurasiagroup.

    Even before the meeting was published, Carlson faced criticism for interviewing Putin when his government is holding Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich and another U.S. journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva of RFE/RL, in jail on charges related to their reporting that both vehemently deny.

    Kurmasheva’s case was not even mentioned in the interview, while Carlson angered the Wall Street Journal by suggesting that Putin should release the 33-year-old journalist even if “maybe he was breaking your law in some way.”

    The U.S. State Department has officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained by Russia.

    “Evan is a journalist and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction,” the newspaper said in reaction to the interview.

    “Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”

    Putin said “an agreement can be reached” to free Gershkovich and appeared to suggest that a swap for a “patriotic” Russian national currently serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany — an apparent reference to Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization convicted of assassinating a former Chechen fighter in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

    “There is no taboo to settle this issue. We are willing to solve it, but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached,” Putin told Carlson.

    Carlson, a former Fox News host, has made a name for himself by spreading conspiracy theories and has questioned U.S. support for Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian troops. The interview was Putin’s first with a Western media figure since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Putin said during the interview Russia has no interest in invading NATO member Poland and could only see one case where he would: “If Poland attacks Russia.”

    “We have no interest in Poland, Latvia, or anywhere else. Why would we do that? We simply don’t have any interest. It’s just threat mongering. It is absolutely out of the question,” he added.

    Describing his decision to interview Putin in an announcement posted on X on February 6, Carlson asserted that U.S. media outlets focus fawningly on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy but that Putin’s voice is not heard in the United States because Western journalists have not “bothered” to interview him since the full-scale invasion.

    Carlson has gained a reputation for defending the Russian leader, once claiming that “hating Putin has become the central purpose of America’s foreign policy.”

    Numerous Western journalists rejected the claim, saying they have consistently sought to interview Putin but have been turned away. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed that, saying his office receives “numerous requests for interviews with the president” but that most of the Western outlets asking are “traditional TV channels and large newspapers that don’t even attempt to appear impartial in their coverage. Of course, there’s no desire to communicate with this kind of media.”

    Carlson’s credentials as an independent journalist have been questioned, and in 2020 Fox News won a defamation case against him, with the judge saying in her verdict that when presenting stories, Carlson is not “stating actual facts” about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in “exaggeration” and “‘nonliteral commentary.”

    Carlson was one of Fox News’ top-rated hosts before he abruptly left the network last year after Fox settled a separate defamation lawsuit over its reporting of the 2020 presidential election. Fox agreed to pay $787 million to voting machine company Dominion after the company filed a lawsuit alleging the network spread false claims that its machines were rigged against former President Donald Trump.

    Carlson has had a rocky relationship at times with the former president, but during Trump’s presidency he had Carlson’s full backing and he has endorsed Trump in his 2024 run to regain the White House.


    This content originally appeared on News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Write for Rights: Global letter writing campaign 2023 started

    Amnesty International launched its flagship Write for Rights campaign to help people facing human rights abuses around the world. Millions of letters and emails will be sent to support these individuals and urge authorities to end injustices. ‘While sending a letter may seem like a small gesture for any single one of us, the collective action of many of us has the potential to transform lives’ said Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive of Amnesty International UK.

    Taking place across November and December, Write for Rights will see people around the world send millions of cards, emails and social media posts of solidarity to individuals whose fundamental rights are being threatened or denied, while urging those in power to put a halt to the abuses.

    This year, the global Write for Rights campaign will focus on 10 cases of individuals and communities from across the world who are facing human rights violations, including:

    • Rocky Myers, a Black man, has been on death row in Alabama, USA, since 1994. A nearly all-white jury convicted and sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole for the murder of his white neighbour. The trial judge overrode their decision and imposed a death sentence – a practice now outlawed in Alabama. No evidence linked Rocky to the murder, except for a VCR stolen from the victim, which he maintains he had found abandoned in the street. In 2018, Rocky and others on death row were given 30 days to choose if they wanted to die by nitrogen gas asphyxiation or by amended lethal injection protocols. Rocky chose the former, and his execution could be reset as soon as the new protocol for execution by nitrogen gas asphyxiation is finalised and ready to be implemented, which is expected by the end of this year.
    • Rita Karasartova, a Kyrgyzstan-based human rights defender who works for the Institute of Civic Analysis – a human rights organisation and think-tank. Rita was arrested in October 2022 for joining group of activists who objected to a border demarcation agreement with Uzbekistan. After the group called for a public assembly and formed a committee to oppose the agreement, Rita and others were charged with attempting to violently overthrow the government, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment. Rita is now under house arrest and a strict curfew.
    • Ahmed Mansoor is a human rights defender and previously won the prestigious Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015. Ahmed has documented human rights abuses in the UAE since 2006, until he was arrested in early 2011 and March 2017, he was given a 10-year prison sentence. He has been held in solitary confinement since the beginning of his detention, and continues to be denied a mattress, access to books, and to be permitted to go out in a yard. See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/ahmed-mansoor/ and https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/074ACCD4-A327-4A21-B056-440C4C378A1A]
    • Justyna Wydrzyńska is a reproductive rights defender in Poland and is one of the co-founders of the Abortion Dream Team, an activist collective campaigning against abortion stigma and offering advice on accessing safe abortion in Poland, where abortion laws are among the most restrictive in Europe. In March 2023 Justyna was convicted to 8 months’ community service for helping a pregnant woman to access abortion pills in Poland, setting a dangerous precedent in a country where abortion is almost completely banned.

    Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign dates back to the origins of Amnesty International in 1961. In the organisation’s early days, Amnesty campaigners wrote letters of support to individuals facing human rights violations. Now, Write for Rights is Amnesty’s flagship campaign, running every year to raise awareness about individuals whose rights are being seriously threatened.

    Last year’s Write for Rights saw:

    • Over 5.3 million actions worldwide – of which at least 234,801 letters and cards were solidarity actions.
    • Letters were sent from around the world, from Zimbabwe to Hong Kong.
    • Amnesty’s International Secretariat digitally collected almost double the number of digital actions from 2021.

    For 2021 see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2021/11/08/write-for-rights-2021-launched/

    https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/write-rights-global-letter-writing-movement-stands-victims-human-rights-abuses

    This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.

  • CPJ calls on Kyrgyzstan authorities to allow RFE/RL’s Radio Azattyk to work freely after shutdown reversal

    Stockholm, July 12, 2023— The Committee to Protect Journalists says it is relieved by Wednesday’s decision by a Kyrgyzstan appeals court to annul a lower court ruling ordering the closure of Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    “We are relieved by the reversal of Kyrgyz authorities’ decision to shutter Radio Azattyk, but they should never have tried to close it in the first place,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in London. “Kyrgyz authorities must allow Radio Azattyk to work freely and stop putting pressure on it and other media outlets over content they dislike or don’t agree with.”

    Radio Azattyk appealed an April 27 district court decision to shutter the broadcaster for publishing a September 2022 video report about border clashes with neighboring Tajikistan. In October, Kyrgyz authorities blocked Radio Azattyk’s websites over the video and ordered a freeze on the outlet’s bank account under money laundering laws. 

    On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the court confirmed a settlement between the broadcaster’s parent company Azattyk Media and Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport, and Youth Policy. According to the ministry, that settlement resulted in the removal of the video from the outlet’s websites.

    The ministry announced it would end the block on Radio Azattyk’s websites, and a spokesperson for the Kyrgyzstan President said “restrictions” on Azattyk Media would be lifted. 

    Jeffrey Gedmin, acting president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said that the decision — “a result of concerted advocacy and support from the international community” — would enable Radio Azattyk “to continue to reach its audiences with trusted reporting.”


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Soccer-Playing Mom Defies Expectations In Kyrgyzstan


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • ‘We want the truth’: families of ethnic Pamiris killed in Tajikistan call for justice as tensions rise

    Urgent protection for minority groups facing increased repression needed in crisis connected to escalating clashes across central Asian ex-Soviet region, say human rights groups

    Parents of men killed by Tajikistan forces have called on the international community to step in and urgently protect ethnic groups being targeted by the Tajik regime.

    In a rare interview, families from the Pamiri ethnic minority have demanded that soldiers who killed their sons be brought to justice and urged the UN to prevent a new phase of conflict in Tajikistan, a landlocked country in central Asia.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.