The Ministry of Culture of Kyrgyzstan filed a lawsuit to close Radio Liberty/Azattyk

The Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan appealed to the Leninsky District Court with a claim to terminate the activities of “Azattyk Media” as a mass media. This was reported by the Kyrgyz service of Radio Liberty (Azattyk) with reference to the notification of the department. The date of the appeal to the court has not been specified.

The claim states that the video material about the conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been deleted and is being distributed on social networks. We are talking about the broadcast of the program “Real Time. Asia”, which was released in mid-September 2022 under the title “Heavy battles on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan” (Real Time is a TV channel created by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty with the participation of the Voice of America). According to the department, the program contains “elements of hate speech, unconfirmed information about an alleged attack by the Kyrgyz side on Tajikistan, information that incites the situation in society and causes hatred, discrimination and division among citizens when covering events in the Batken region.”

At the end of October 2022, the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy of Kyrgyzstan decided to block the websites of “Azattyk” as well as the account of the organization in “Demirbank”. On December 26, it became known that restrictions on the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic were extended. The department clarified that this measure will be in effect until the material that caused the blocking decision is removed.

The management of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty regarded this step as persecution of free media, which undermines democracy in Kyrgyzstan. “RCE/RS takes seriously its obligations to provide balanced coverage of events. We studied the content of this material and did not find any violations of our standards. We will not give in to pressure to remove balanced materials from our sites, whether from the Kremlin or the Kyrgyz government.” – said Jamie Fly, president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty media corporation.

The lawyers of “Azattyk” applied to the Pervomaisky district court of the city of Bishkek to challenge the decision of the Ministry of Culture. The first hearing in this case is scheduled for January 26, 2023.