Kyrgyzstan
In recent years, the ruling Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SPDK) has consolidated power by using the justice system to suppress political opponents and critics from civil society. Kyrgyzstan ranks 72nd out of 180 on the RSF Press Freedom Index.
Compared to neighbouring countries, mass media in Kyrgyzstan experience greater freedom, and the constitution guarantees freedom of the press and prohibits censorship. However, media and journalists are still restricted in their work, mostly by the government.
Restrictive media landscape
Pending legislative changes pose a big threat, since they will limit the space for journalists to work freely. In December 2020, ARTICLE 19 called on authorities in Kyrgyzstan “to refrain from adopting constitutional changes infringing on freedom of expression and media freedom. The proposed changes would accelerate further deterioration of the freedom of expression and media freedom situation in Kyrgyzstan and provide additional basis for targeting independent media both online and offline. The constitutional reform process, the legitimacy of which is widely questioned, should be halted.”
Furthermore, political unrest and fears of a wider conflict with Tajikistan and the legal restrictions proposed by the ruling parties are all factors that complicate the work of journalists and the free flow of information.
Safety
Especially investigative journalists are at risk in Kyrgyzstan. A high-profile corruption investigation published by independent journalists was first ignored by the authorities, but drew the attention of the investigation’s subjects, who sued the journalists for punitive damages. Several journalists were threatened and even attacked in connection with the investigation, while their websites faced distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
The authorities continued to prosecute users for their activities on social media platforms, under sometimes false charges of inciting hatred. Mid-2020, the lawmakers debated a bill to combat “information manipulation” which would vastly expand the government’s ability to censor online content. This is still pending, as the country is experiencing more political turmoil and also heavy fighting in the border area with Tajikistan.
Furthermore, the unsafe environment for journalists led to physical attacks against reporters by both police and demonstrators during the post-election unrest in October 2020. Also exposing corruption – such as the alleged smuggling activities and money-laundering of millions of dollars by the Matraimov family – proved to be very dangerous for independent journalists and media outlets.
Free Press Unlimited’s partners
Free Press Unlimited supports the independent online newsroom Kloop.kg known for its investigative journalism, in particular for their investigations into criminal activities of the son of the president of Kyrgyzstan. One of their investigations about violations at that year's presidential election in Kyrgyzstan won a prize from the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) as one of the best investigative stories from the former Soviet Union.
Photo: "Russians in Kyrgyzstan" by CharlesFred is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0