BISHKEK -- Amid an ongoing crackdown on civil society in Kyrgyzstan, the Oktyabr (October) district court in Bishkek on February 9 issued a ruling to liquidate the Kloop Media Public Foundation, the main owner of the Kloop news agency, one of the leading independent media outlets in the country.
The decision, which also affects the foundation's journalism school, was made at the request of the Bishkek city prosecutor's office, which said the foundation had "damaged the authorities' reputation through its reports critical of the government" and those "encouraging people to relocate from border areas."
The foundation’s lawyers said they planned to appeal the decision to the Bishkek City Court.
Kloop's websites in Kyrgyz and Russian have been blocked since last fall at the request of the Culture Ministry following a claim by the State Committee of National Security (UKMK) that the media outlet distributed false information about a jailed opposition politician who said he was tortured while in custody.
The Culture Ministry demanded that Kloop remove the article from its site, which the outlet refused to do, saying that the story in question attributed all information about the situation faced by the politician while in custody to actual individuals and sources.
Established in June 2007, the Kloop website (kloop.kg) is known for publishing reports on corruption in various governmental bodies and providing training to Central Asian journalists on fact-checking and investigative techniques through the Kloop Media Public Foundation School of Journalism, whose students and graduates contribute to the site.
RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk, Kloop, and the Center for Corruption and Organized Crime Research (OCCRP) have collaborated on a series of investigations concerning corruption in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan's civil society and free press have traditionally been the most vibrant in Central Asia. But that has changed in recent years amid a deepening government crackdown.
Radio Azattyk survived a shutdown attempt last year.
Last month, Kyrgyz police arrested 11 former and current reporters of the Temirov LIVE investigative group and its Ait Ait Dese project after searching their homes and offices on a charge of "calls for disobedience and mass riots" over the group's reporting.
Also in January, the UKMK briefly detained for questioning the director and two editors of the independent 24.kg news agency after searching their homes and offices in a case of "propagating war" because of the outlet's coverage of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Domestic and international rights groups have urged Kyrgyz authorities to stop the crackdown on independent media and democratic institutions in the former Soviet republic.