Watchdog

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's deputy interior minister has visited the residential compound of former President Almazbek Atambaev after he refused to obey a subpoena three times in an unspecified criminal investigation.

Atambaev's assistant, Kunduz Joldubaeva, told RFE/RL that Mirlan Kanimetov and several other ministry officials came to the residential compound in the village of Kok-Tash on July 22.

Joldubaeva added that Atambaev did not come out to speak to the deputy minister. Instead, she talked to Kanimetov in the compound on his behalf.

"I have reiterated our stance, which was previously expressed by our attorney. We had informed the ministry already, and again today said that we consider a June 27 parliamentary vote that stripped Almazbek Atambaev of his immunity from prosecution to be illegal," Joldubaeva said, adding that Kanimetov answered that he understood her statement and left the compound.

Atambaev said later in the day that he plans to visit Russia for two days, most likely starting on July 24, on an invitation by unspecified people there.

Last week, Atambaev refused to obey the third subpoena, a move that could prompt authorities to detain him for questioning.

He faces five counts of criminally abusing his office when he was Kyrgyzstan's president from 2011 to 2017 -- including corruption, abuse of office, and illegally enriching himself.

Atambaev has rejected all charges against him, saying they are politically motivated.

Under Kyrgyz law, a person who refuses to comply with two subpoenas can be forcibly detained for questioning. But authorities in Bishkek so far have not attempted to detain Atambaev.

Atambaev's lawyer Sergei Slesarev has said that amendments made in May to Kyrgyzstan's law on the immunity of former presidents are unconstitutional.

Kyrgyz lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to remove Atambaev's immunity in a move that cleared the way for his prosecution.

Atambaev has spent most of his time since the June 27 parliamentary vote at his residential compound in Koi-Tash. He has publicly stated that he has weapons.

On July 3, Atambaev left his compound to speak at a rally in Bishkek where about 1,000 of his supporters rallied to demand that all of the charges against him be dropped.

With reporting by Kaktus

Pakistan's most popular TV station, Geo News, was abruptly forced off the air in many parts of the country as independent media come under unprecedented pressure from authorities.

Geo News’s broadcasts were blocked starting July 21, just hours before Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistani Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, the head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the military's notorious spy wing, landed in Washington for talks with U.S. officials.

Geo TV was still blocked in some parts of the country on July 22.

The move was condemned by international media watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which in a September report said that the climate for press freedom in Pakistan was deteriorating as the country's powerful army "quietly, but effectively" restricts reporting through "intimidation" and other means.

The Pakistani Army and ISI play a major role in domestic and foreign affairs in the South Asian country of some 212 million people.

"The blockage of Geo News just as Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Washington is an unfortunate illustration of how widespread censorship has become in Pakistan," Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia program coordinator, said in a statement after the station went off air.

"U.S. officials who meet with Khan should make clear that these blatant attacks on press freedom are unacceptable."

The U.S. government has yet to comment on the blockage.

Azhar Abbas, Geo News's managing director, told CPJ that the channel was blocked without any notice or explanation from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), the powerful broadcast media regulator.

PERMA has not commented on the blockage.

"Geo has bled enormously in [the] last five and half year[s] due to repeated illegal closure of the channel," Abbas said, adding that Geo staffers have not been paid in three months, and that this latest move could "potentially be fatal" for the broadcaster.

"It is punished for its editorial policy," Abbas said.

The incident came as Pakistan's free press finds itself under unprecedented pressure from the military.

Spate Of Blows

Criticism of the army has long been seen as a red line for the media, with journalists and bloggers complaining of intimidation tactics including kidnappings, beatings, and even killings if they cross that line.

The independent media has suffered a spate of blows in recent years.

Several veteran reporters in Pakistan have left journalism after being threatened; authorities have disrupted the distribution of Dawn, Pakistan's oldest English-language newspaper; and leading columnists have complained that stories deemed to be critical of the army are being rejected by outlets under pressure from the military.

On July 16, journalists staged demonstrations across the country to denounce censorship by the military and security services, layoffs due to budget cuts, and months-long delays in the payment of wages.

The July 16 protests were spearheaded by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists to call attention to what it described as “unprecedented censorship.”

Last week, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticized a decision by Pakistani authorities to suspend three TV news channels from a cable network after they had broadcast a news conference by an opposition politician.

Pakistan is ranked 142nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index, three places lower than it was in 2018.