**Updates previous IFEX alert of 18 August 2000** (RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the president of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Atrayevich Akayev, RSF protested the harassment of the private weekly “Delo No” and members of its editorial staff. “This is a new act of pressure aiming to silence the non-governmental press,” stated Robert […]
**Updates previous IFEX alert of 18 August 2000**
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the president of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Atrayevich Akayev, RSF protested the harassment of the private weekly “Delo No” and members of its editorial staff. “This is a new act of pressure aiming to silence the non-governmental press,” stated Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. RSF also denounced the “unfounded character of the accusations against the newspaper and its journalist, Vadim Nochevkin, as well as the humiliating conditions of the interrogation suffered by its deputy editor-in-chief, Svetlana Krasilnikov.”
According to information obtained by RSF, Krasilnikov, Nochevkin and Victor Zapolski, editor-in-chief of the private weekly “Delo No”, were summoned on 16 August 2000 to the Ministry of National Security (MNS, Kyrgyzstan security services). The editor-in-chief and the journalist were detained for five hours, Krasilnikov for eight hours. They were not allowed to consult a lawyer, which constitutes a violation of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic. Krasilnikov remained locked up without receiving water or food. Following her interrogation, she was admitted to the national hospital in Bishkek for heart problems. Nochevkin had written an article for “Delo No”, published on 26 July, recounting the progress of the trial of Felix Kulov, leader of the Ar-Namys (Dignity) opposition party. Kulov was acquitted on 9 August. The same day, Nochevkin, was summoned to the MNS and required to reveal his sources. He was accused of “distribution of state secrets”. Yet this same information about the trial had already been published in the pro-government press and mentioned by the deputy security minister, Boris Poluektov, during an interview.
“Delo No” regularly denounces violations of human rights in the country. The weekly has been fined twice since January, for a total amount of more than 35,000 euros (US$ 31,766).
