The international community of journalists has expressed solidarity with the journalists arrested in Kyrgyzstan in January 2024 and condemned the brutal crackdown by the Kyrgyz authorities on independent media. The Center for Investigative Journalism of Moldova (CIJM), which works with Kyrgyz investigative journalists, has condemned the arrest of the 11 journalists since the beginning. In February 2024, the CIJM awarded two awards at the Annual Forum of Investigative Journalists in Bishkek for courage in investigative journalism.

Kyrgyzstan was once the most democratic of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, with genuine elections, a vibrant civil society and a vibrant media scene.

That has changed in recent years, with a president who combines populist rhetoric with Russian-style control methods, and several independent media outlets have come under extreme pressure or been forced to close—including OCCRP’s two main partners in the country, Kloop and Temirov Live.

Kloop’s website was blocked by authorities, and the entity it uses to operate was liquidated by court order in February, with prosecutors using psychiatrists’ testimony to claim that the outlet “harmed people’s mental health” by “upsetting” them with negative information. Temirov Live fared even worse: 11 of its current and former journalists were arrested in January and remain behind bars, accused of inciting unrest, although authorities have offered little evidence for the claim.

Its founder, Bolot Temirov, was stripped of his passport and forced into exile, and his wife is among the 11 journalists arrested. They are threatened with having their 10-year-old son taken into state custody.

OCCRP and other international organizations have come together to continue their investigative work and press for the release of journalists arrested in Kyrgyzstan. A web page has been created that will bring together our coverage of Kyrgyzstan’s crackdown on press freedom and a series of future investigations that pick up where our imprisoned colleagues left off.