Media and civil society freedoms in Kyrgyzstan are under attack with a severity that has intensified under President Sadyr Japarov. Repressive laws allowing for greater control over civil society have enabled targeted attacks on human rights defenders, journalists, and independent news outlets. These actions illustrate broader trends of democratic backsliding, with human rights eroding at an alarming rate. My case is only one example. Due to my work as an anti-corruption investigative journalist, the Kyrgyz government expelled me from my country, imprisoned and tortured my wife, prosecuted my colleagues, and now is taking my son away from me.
On Jan. 22, 2022, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) raided the offices of my independent media platform, Temirov LIVE. This happened after I published a piece exposing the family corruption of the head of the SCNS, Kamchybek Tashiev. Chairman Tashiev used the power of this State agency for personal gain to discredit the content of our free reporting. The SCNS orchestrated a raid on our offices and alleged that I was in possession of cannabis, which they had planted during the raid. Clearly this charge of narcotics possession was fabricated to censor my investigative anti-corruption work.
The overall decline in Kyrgyzstan started long before the raid of my offices. The government’s suppression of society has been increasing in scope and intensity since Japarov in 2021 grabbed more power for the presidency shortly after taking office, via a constitutional referendum and changes in domestic laws. The authorities began to prosecute, harass, and exert other pressure on many human rights defenders, journalists, bloggers and social media activists simply for participating in public life, expressing their opinions, and associating with other like-minded citizens and groups. From 2020 to 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s score in Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report on internet freedom declined by more than 10 points on a 100-point scale, shifting its status from “Partly Free” to “Not Free.”
My case is just one example of the illegal and arbitrary prosecutions meted out by the government. After the raid and planting of the drugs, the police conducted a blood test and hand swab, and the results were negative. The SCSN apparently had used the search for alleged drugs as an excuse to take our computers, video recorders, and phones, which contained confidential journalistic materials. Several weeks later, they added several new, unrelated criminal charges, including passport forgery and illegal border crossing. While the trial court found me not guilty, the prosecutors appealed and requested the court impose deportation as a form of punishment in my case.
Deportation from Home Country
On the day of the appellate verdict, Nov. 23, 2022, the court ordered me to be deported from my home country. I was dragged from the courtroom and put on a plane without any identification documents nor any access to my lawyers. I was expelled to Moscow, a city where I had attended college many years earlier but had no remaining connections. My family — my wife and 12-year-old son — had no idea where I was. I have lived in exile ever since and am not able to return to Kyrgyzstan due to both a ban on re-entry following the deportation and concerns for my safety.
Every step of these criminal proceedings violated my human rights under international law. I do not accept this verdict. As such, I am fighting this injustice by petitioning the United Nations Human Rights Committee, an independent, international human rights body. Additionally, through public advocacy, I am raising awareness about my case and, more broadly, about the continued persecution of the media and human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrgyz government did not stop its attacks on the media upon my conviction and deportation. On Jan. 16 of this year, police raided the homes and offices of 11 Temirov LIVE journalists and presenters and arrested them en masse. On Oct. 10, several of my colleagues were sentenced in Kyrgyzstan on the absurd charge of “inciting mass riots,” which Amnesty International properly recognized as politically motivated. The director of Temirov LIVE and my wife, Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, was sentenced to six years in a penal colony; our colleague Azamat Ishenbekov received five years; while journalists Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov each received a three-year probationary term. These charges unjustly portray journalists as dangerous elements in society and seek to punish my colleagues for their work as members of the media.
Leaders Choosing Tyranny
The illegal arrests and convictions of our journalists show that the authorities of Kyrgyzstan have chosen the path of dictatorship and tyranny. The tactics of the State are inhuman and the government has terrorized us for many years, with a drastic and violent increase in the media crackdown over the past three years.
The government of Kyrgyzstan has sought to destroy our lives by going to extreme lengths that mirror the tactics of Russia’s Kremlin, including targeting our children. My wife was badly beaten in pre-trial detention by jail officials and was separated from our son, who has lived with his grandmother while Makhabat has been arbitrarily and illegally detained. The same day that my wife was sentenced to six years, the State stripped me of my parental right to determine the care of my son. There is a very real threat that they will place him in the care of social services, as they now have the full authority to do so. Previously, the government took away my son’s birth certificate, so he couldn’t obtain a passport, preventing him from leaving the country to be with me. The personal cost to my own life and the lives of my friends and colleagues is incalculable. The government is intentionally and callously targeting families of all my colleagues and associates.
There is no rule of law or justice in these criminal proceedings and no respect for fundamental human rights. The international community must step in. One way to do so is to cut off access to western markets where corrupt autocrats hide their money and where their families enjoy lavish shopping sprees and access to elite private schools for their children. International financial institutions and businesses should also take responsibility and do their due diligence checks before investing and giving loans to corrupt regimes and human rights violators.
It is time to stop autocrats like Japarov from continuing to prosecute journalists and other citizens before it’s too late and before Kyrgyzstan represents, once again, an extension of Russia’s policies and joins the same ranks of dependent enablers of the Kremlin as Belarus.