The Kyrgyz special services accused one of the oldest publications of war propaganda in Ukraine

Employees of the State Committee for National Security (GKNS) of Kyrgyzstan conducted a search in the newsroom of the 24.kg news agency.

The lawyers were not allowed into the editorial office, writes the Kyrgyz service of Radio Liberty – Radio Azattyk with reference to lawyer Nurbek Sydykov.

General Director Asel Otorbaeva, as well as chief editors Makhinur Niyazova and Anton Lymar were taken for questioning.

Later, the National Security Service reported that the search was conducted as part of a criminal case under the article “Propaganda of War”. It is not known what publication was the reason for the initiation of the case. Makhynur Niyazova managed to announce that the case concerned one of the publications of the publication about the war in Ukraine, after which she was taken away for questioning.

During the search, the National Security Service seized computers, laptops, and electronic media. The special service does not disclose other details.

The human rights organization International Partnership for Human Rights called the events surrounding the publication “disturbing.”

In September 2023, it became known that access to the 24.kg website was blocked in Russia. The reason was four news digests, all of them devoted to the war in Ukraine: the digests talk about Russian shelling and casualties among the civilian population, anti-Russian sanctions and mobilization.

24.kg is one of the first Internet publications in Kyrgyzstan. It was founded in 2006. Asel Otorbayeva has been the long-term general director of the publication.

• In March 2023, the international human rights organization Freedom House included Kyrgyzstan in the list of non-free countries for the third time. According to her estimates, political rights are limited in the Kyrgyz Republic, and mass media are under pressure.