Attempted arrest of journalist
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has expressed great concern about the recent harassment of Alexander Kim, chief editor of the independent daily “Vecherny Bishkek”. On 24 August 1999, representatives from the Kyrgyz State Tax Police attempted to arrest Kim on charges of tax evasion and ordered him to provide a number of the newspaper’s financial documents. Kim […]
Journalist Rysbek Omurzakov sentenced to three years in prison
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 29 September 1997, a district court in Bishkek sentenced Rysbek Omurzakov, a reporter for the opposition weekly “Res Publika”, to three years in prison for libelling the manager of a state-owned factory. The ruling makes Kyrgyzstan the only country in Europe and the former Soviet Union to have sent a journalist to […]
Trial of journalist Yryspek Omurzakov resumes
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 18 September 1997, the trial of Yryspek Omurzakov, a journalist with the opposition weekly “Res Publika”, resumed in the Lenin District Court of Bishkek. Omurzakov was arrested in March 1997 on criminal charges for allegedly libelling a factory director, an accusation characterized by his lawyers as politically motivated. **Updates IFEX alerts dated […]
Pressure placed on staff of two state-run newspapers
On 9 April 1996, presidential spokesperson Kamil Bayalinov announced that by virtue of a principle of “rotation of administrative staff,” the editor of the state-run newspaper “Slovo Krghyzstana”, Aleksander Malevanni, had been “transferred” to the editorial department of another state-run newspaper, “Svobodnie Gori-Erkin Too”, and that his associates, Ella Taranova and Danil Kishtobayev, had been […]