The International Press Institute (IPI) demands the immediate release of camera operator Alexander Alexandrov and former employee Joomart Duulatov of the Kyrgyz investigative media outlet, Kloop.聽
Since Wednesday, May 28, at least have been detained following home on journalists and staffers in the capital Bishkek and Osh. They were subsequently interrogated by Kyrgystan鈥檚 State Committee for National Security (SCNS). 聽According to their lawyer, the detainees were access to legal counsel for more than six hours.
Five were later released and classified as witnesses and one person brought in for questioning on Friday afternoon remains in custody at the SCNS building, according to the OCCRP report. On Friday, Alexandrov and Duulatov were into pretrial detention until July 21 on charges of calling for mass unrest, on which both allegedly pleaded guilty. A lawyer for the two he plans to challenge the decision.
鈥淭hese arrests are clearly coordinated and aimed at broadening the legal persecution and criminalisation of Kloop and its journalists in retaliation for their essential watchdog journalism,鈥� IPI Executive Director, Scott Griffen said. 鈥淚PI and our global network of journalists stand with Kloop, one of the most respected media organizations in Central Asia and a member of the IPI network. We call for the immediate release of the arrested journalists and an end to the escalating crackdown on media freedom in the country.鈥�
The head of the Kyrgyz president鈥檚 press service, Daiyrbek Orunbekov, the detained journalists were questioned for allegedly assisting Bolot Temirov, a Kyrgyz independent journalist and head of independent investigative media outlet Temirov Live. He claimed on Facebook that Temirov had paid the journalists to carry out 鈥渇alse investigations鈥�. Orunbekov also alleged that the two suspects had confessed to 鈥渟preading false information and writing hit pieces against the state.鈥�
Both Temirov and Kloop founder Rinat Tukhvatshin denied these claims.
Tukhvatshin on Wednesday: 鈥淥nly two people managed to report that they were being detained. Five people have actually disappeared. We found them in the State Security Committee through acquaintances and a lawyer. After the detention, none of them was able to contact either relatives or us. I consider what is happening not just detention, but kidnapping.鈥�
Kyrgyzstan has become increasingly repressive toward independent journalists and government critics since the election of President Sadyr Japarov in 2021. In February 2024, a court in Bishkek ordered the shutdown of Kloop claiming that its reporting 鈥渦ndermines trust in government institutions.鈥� The outlet has since been blocked in Kyrgyzstan but continues publishing. Last year, 11 current and former staffers of Temirov Live were detained and prosecuted.
In 2024, Kloop was awarded the IPI-IMS Free Media Pioneer award for its fearless accountability journalism and dedication to fostering quality media and democratic ideals in Kyrgyzstan over nearly two decades. Founded in 2006, Kloop has grown into one of the most popular independent news sources in Kyrgyzstan, exposing high-level corruption.