Kyrgyzstan

Khalil Khudaiberdiyev of Osh TV and Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev of Mezon TV, who both fled the country in 2010, were sentenced to 20 and 14 years in jail, respectively.

The election law, passed in 2010 by the interim government, bans retransmission of any of the foreign broadcast media that contains “electoral propaganda” and any content “attacking the honor, dignity and reputation of candidates” during the campaigning period, which began on September 25.

Gennady Pavlyuk, who wrote under the pseudonym Ibrahim Rustambek, died after he was bound in tape and pushed out of the window of an apartment building in Almaty.

Shokhrukh Saipov decided to become a journalist after authorities failed to properly investigate his older brother’s murder and instead imprisoned a man who is largely believed to be innocent.

Barring online news agencies from fully covering the election is incompatible with Kyrgyzstan’s obligations to respect freedom of expression because it places arbitrary limits on where and how Kyrgyzstan’s voters receive information about presidential candidates, Human Rights Watch said.

CPJ urges the government to carry out an investigation into the abuse of authority by local prosecutors against three media professionals and, based on the findings, to ensure the pending prosecutions are dropped and the conviction is vacated.

Khalil Khudaiberdiyev and Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev are being charged with separate counts of organising and participating in mass disorder; calls for separatism; incitement to interethnic and religious hatred; abuse of office; and the illegal creation of an armed group.

An appeals court has upheld the life sentence given in September 2010 to reporter and researcher Azimjon Askarov and six of his co-defendants.

The authorities were urged to investigate the assault on a group of defendants, including well known human rights defender Azimzhan Askarov, and take steps to protect them.

The Kyrgyzstan-based Uzbek journalist, Ulugbek Abdusalamov, has suffered a serious stroke whilst under arrest in hospital.

Ulugbek Abdusalomov and Azimjon Askarov have been charged with extremism and other serious charges and face lengthy prison sentences, including a life term, if convicted.

Azimjon Askarov was pronounced guilty on a wide range of charges, including complicity to commit homicide and murder of a police officer.

Trumped-up charges of extremism against Ulugbek Abdusalomov, the editor of an independent newspaper, and Azimjon Askarov, a journalist and human rights defender, should be dropped immediately, CPJ said.

The newsroom of the independent Uzbek-language broadcaster Osh TV in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh was raided by armed agents of the Kyrgyz security service.

Batyr Mamatzhanov remains in critical condition after suffering two broken ribs and a head injury.

CJES expressed concern over the safety of two journalists in Osh, while noting that another has fled the city with his family.