(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 22 June 2000 letter to President Askar Akayev, CPJ expressed its concern that an independent journalist in his country has been jailed for insulting a judge. On 19 June, a Jalal-Abad city court sentenced Moldosali Ibraimov, a reporter with the independent regional weekly “Akyikat”, to two years imprisonment for criminal defamation. […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 22 June 2000 letter to President Askar Akayev, CPJ expressed its concern that an independent journalist in his country has been jailed for insulting a judge.
On 19 June, a Jalal-Abad city court sentenced Moldosali Ibraimov, a reporter with the independent regional weekly “Akyikat”, to two years imprisonment for criminal defamation. He was also fined 100,000 soms (US$1,230); a similar fine was imposed on “Akyikat”, according to local news reports and CPJ sources in Bishkek. The journalist is currently in jail pending an appeal.
Ibraimov was prosecuted over an article titled “Did the Judge Commit a Crime?” that he published in “Akyikat” during the first week of April. In the article, Ibraimov discussed a recent legal dispute between two rival parliamentary candidates. The judge who heard the case, Toktosun Kasymbekov, was rumored to have accepted a US$15,000 bribe to rule in one candidate’s favor.
In May, Judge Kasymbekov sued Ibraimov for libel under Article 127, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. Under this clause, persons found guilty of defamation may be fined, but not imprisoned. The ruling would thus appear to violate Kyrgyz law along with international standards for a free press.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
- stating that civil penalties provide adequate redress for defamation, and that no journalist should ever be jailed for what he writes
- urging him to investigate this unjust and disproportionate ruling, and to ensure that Ibraimov’s appeal receives a fair hearing
Appeals To
His Excellency Askar Akayev
President of Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Fax: +7 3312 218627
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
