BISHKEK -- Eleven former and current reporters for the Temirov Live investigative group in Kyrgyzstan have gone on trial in Bishkek on a charge of "calling for mass riots," which the journalists and rights groups have rejected as politically motivated.
Judge Kylychbek Istamkulov of the Lenin district court started the trial behind closed doors on June 7.
Four of the journalists on trial -- Makhabat Tajibek-kyzy, Azamat Ishenbekov, Aktilek Kaparov, and Aike Beishekeeva -- have been held in pretrial detention since January 16.
The other seven journalists were transferred to house arrest amid an outcry by domestic and international human rights groups over the case. The arrests were made after police searched the journalists’ homes and offices.
In April, the Kyrgyz Ombudsman's Institute said guards physically attacked Tajibek-kyzy and two of her cellmates in detention center No.1 in Bishkek.
Prosecutors said at the time that they had launched a preliminary investigation into Tajibek-kyzy's complaint.
Tajibek-kyzy is the wife of prominent investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, the founder of Temirov Live who was deported to Moscow in November 2022 after a court ruled that he illegally obtained Kyrgyz citizenship.
Temirov, who held Kyrgyz and Russian passports, rejected the accusation and insisted that the probe against him was launched after he published the results of an investigation suggesting corruption among top Kyrgyz officials.
Kyrgyz-based and international human rights groups have urged the former Soviet republic’s government to immediately release Temirov Live’s journalists and drop all charges against them.
Kyrgyzstan's free press and civil society have traditionally been the most vibrant in Central Asia, but that has changed amid a deepening government crackdown.
In early April, President Sadyr Japarov signed into law a controversial bill that allows authorities to register organizations as "foreign representatives," which critics say mirrors a repressive Russian law on "foreign agents" that Moscow uses to muzzle free press and NGOs.