The Chui regional court in northern Kyrgyzstan on July 15 rejected an appeal filed by government critic and journalist Oljobai Shakir (aka Egemberdiev) against the five-year prison term he was handed in mid-May on a charge of making online calls for mass unrest. Shakir called the regional court's ruling "unjust." He was arrested in August 2023, days after he criticized the government's decision to hand four spa centers near Lake Issyk-Kul to Uzbekistan and called on President Sadyr Japarov and the chief of the State Committee of National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, to participate in public debates with him. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
Kyrgyz Government Critic Loses Appeal Against 5-Year Prison Term
Oljobai Shakir in court on July 15