CPJ Condemns Sentencing of Journalists in Kyrgyzstan

CPJ Condemns Sentencing of Journalists in Kyrgyzstan
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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the sentencing of two journalists in Kyrgyzstan, Joomart Duulatov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, to five years in prison, Jurist News reported. The journalists, who worked as cameramen for the anti-corruption agency Kloop, were charged with inciting riots. The charges are linked to videos produced by another organization, Temirov Live, with which the journalists deny any involvement.

According to a statement from Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, Kyrgyzstan has shifted from being a haven for a free press to a country that now regularly jails journalists in retaliation for their work. The article notes that Kloop’s website has been blocked in Kyrgyzstan since 2023, and the organization was ordered to shut down in 2024, forcing many of its journalists into exile.

The jailing of Duulatov and Aleksandrov is part of a broader trend of government persecution against independent news outlets that has been on the rise since 2022, despite the country’s constitutional guarantees of press and speech freedoms.