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 […]
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 dismissed. The following
day, Bayalinov pressured the editorial staff of “Slovo
Krghyzstana” not to publish articles in their next edition
criticising these actions; he even threatened to prevent
publication of the newspaper. Both sides eventually reached a
compromise; however, “Slovo Kyrghyzstana” had to agree not to
publish articles on certain topics, including an appeal by the
editorial staff to President Askar Akayev.
The actions announced by Bayalinov were in response to a 4 April
decision by the editorial staff of “Slovo Kyrgyzstana” to adopt a
new status for the newspaper. Previously, it had been controlled
jointly by the government and the workers’ collective; under the
new status adopted on 4 April, the newspaper would become the
property of the workers only. According to the newspaper’s
editorial staff, the President’s office and the government had
agreed to this change.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
of “Slovo Kyrghyzstana” as well as the de facto censorship
imposed by the President’s office
announced by Kamil Bayalinov and to permit the editorial staff to
choose without interference the status of their newspaper
Appeals To
His Excellency Askar Akayev
President of the Republic of Kyrgysztan
Fax: +19 733 1221 8627
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
