Kyrgyzstan

The crisis presents serious risks to Kyrgyzstan’s prisoners. Askarov, a journalist and human rights activist, has spent nearly 10 years in prison. Nothing justifies his detention and he should be released, all the more urgently now on humanitarian grounds.

The investigation into the 2007 murder in Kyrgyzstan of journalist Alisher Saipov was suspended, apparently indefinitely, in 2013. However, the recent reopening of the inquiry – following pressure from IFEX members – offers a glimmer of hope to the journalist’s family.

The Chui provincial court ruled that Azimjon Askarov’s life sentence could not be reviewed or overturned; neither Askarov nor his lawyer were able to attend the closed-door proceedings.

Jailed for life in 2010, his health deteriorating, Askarov is being held in extremely harsh conditions. His wife worries that his grandchildren will forget what he looks like due to the restrictions on family visits.

People owning videos, pamphlets or books that have been banned using an over-broad definition of extremism face lengthy jail sentences – regardless of how the outlawed material was used.

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path.

Prosecutions, astronomic fines and travel bans are worsening the free expression environment in a state where it is already vulnerable.

RSF is appalled to learn that the Ferghana website can no longer be accessed in Kyrgyzstan as a result of court-ordered blocking, which it condemns as an unwarranted act of censorship unworthy of Kyrgyz democracy.

Independent journalist Ulugbek Babakulov, who has been the target of intense criticism from lawmakers and pro-government media since he criticised nationalist social media posts in an article, has received death threats on social media.

The skies are darkening for many activists in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the Russian Federation is leading the way on legislation aimed at silencing LGBTQI+ voices.

A Kyrgyzstan court upheld a life sentence for human rights defender Azimjon Askarov, despite the UN Human Rights Committee’s ruling that he should be released and his conviction quashed.

A Kyrgyzstan court upheld a life sentence for human rights defender Azimjon Askarov, despite the UN Human Rights Committee’s ruling that he should be released and his conviction quashed.

In a letter to Jim Yong Kim, CPJ requests that he use his authority as president of the World Bank to engage with Kyrgyz authorities and call for the release of jailed independent Azimjon Askarov.

Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, is visiting Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. He should press for an end to human rights abuses abuses when he meets the presidents and other politicians and speak publicly about specific abuses, including the jailing of activists in all three countries.

The law would prohibit the so-called “propaganda” of “non-traditional” (i.e. same sex) relations and would specifically target the media and peaceful assemblies.

“It is disturbingly ironic that this attack targeted an event aimed at drawing attention to violence and discrimination against LGBTI people, and underscores the urgent need for governments, civil society, religious communities, and others to aggressively combat discrimination…”