Kyrgyzstan

2011

  
New President Almazbek Atambayev was sworn in Thursday in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (AP)

Q & A: Khudaiberdiyev on Kyrgyz trial, press freedom

In late October, a regional court in Jalal-Abad, southern Kyrgyzstan, convicted and sentenced in absentia to hefty prison terms two ethnic Uzbek media owners, Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev of Mezon TV and Khalil Khudaiberdiyev of Osh TV. Both men were tried in connection to the ethnic conflict that ravaged southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010. Authorities accused both…

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Ethnic Uzbek men look for their belongings at a destroyed house outside Osh on June 16, 2010. (AFP)

Q & A: Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev on Kyrgyz ‘justice’

On October 28, a regional court in Jalal-Abad, southern Kyrgyzstan, announced its verdict in the trial of six men–all ethnic Uzbeks–charged in connection with violent ethnic conflict in June 2010. Among the defendants were owners of what was once the region’s most influential media–Khalil Khudaiberdiyev of Osh TV and Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev of Mezon TV. The…

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Kyrgyzstan no ‘island of democracy’ as it censors the press

Kyrgyzstan is an “island of democracy” where authorities guarantee freedom of speech and reporting on protest rallies is not a crime, Kyrgyz government officials told an audience. They were speaking at a May 26 round-table discussion at the Open Society Institute in New York. CPJ vehemently disagreed. We had reported on the ongoing prosecution of…

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President Otunbayeva should apply the rule of law in the Askarov case. (AP/Maxim Shubovich)

Otunbayeva must put words into action in Askarov case

World leaders like to invoke terms such as press freedom, human rights, and the rule of law in their speeches, especially to international audience. But in post-Soviet Eurasia, such high-minded words are rarely accompanied by genuine action. A recent commentary in The Washington Post by Roza Otunbayeva, president of Kyrgyzstan, is a testament to this…

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2011