A court in the southern Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad ruled on February 22 to transfer local blogger Batmakan Jolboldueva from a pretrial detention center to house arrest. The State Committee for National Security said in early February that Jolboldueva was arrested and charged with extortion after she was caught receiving 25,000 soms ($280) from a person in exchange for withholding a sensitive report from being published. It remains unclear how Jolboldueva pleaded. She refused to elaborate on the charges when asked by RFE/RL to talk about the details of her case. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
