Nearly two years ago, police in Kyrgyzstan raided the offices of a media group famed for its investigations into political corruption, slapping narcotics charges on its leader.
As images of Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov being manhandled by officers in SWAT gear were shared online on January 22, 2022, many predicted the start of an extended crackdown on independent media by the administration of President Sadyr Japarov.
That crackdown reached an alarming crescendo this week as nearly a dozen current and former staff of Temirov Live were arrested on suspicion of trying to foment unrest in the country, while one of the country's most popular news websites, 24.kg, was targeted in a separate raid.
For so long Central Asia's standout country for independent journalism, intrepid reporting, and media innovation, Kyrgyzstan fell fully 50 places in global media monitor Reporters Without Borders' most recent global ranking, sitting at 122nd place -- only 12 spots above its longtime authoritarian neighbor, Kazakhstan.
That plunge was in large part due to the authorities' decision to put severe restrictions on RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service -- including freezing its bank accounts -- in October 2022.
The arrested journalists were brought to the Birinchi May regional court in Bishkek on January 17.
Local access to the website of Azattyk, as the service is known in Kyrgyzstan, was restored earlier this year, only for another well-respected outlet, Kloop, to come face-to-face with a similar block and potential liquidation.
And now, looming on the horizon, is the threat posed by a new law that experts say could spell the end of independent media in its current format.
But first to the darkest week for the profession in more than three decades of Kyrgyz independence.
'Misleading Society'
While Temirov was born in Kyrgyzstan and had spent most of his working life there, he no longer lives in the country.
His arrest came right after Temirov Live released an investigation into alleged corruption in the fuel business, which featured a relative of State National Security Committee (UKMK) Chairman Kamchybek Tashiev.
The narcotics charges pressed by authorities in 2022 caused a public outcry, and he was subsequently acquitted by a court. But in November of that year, another Bishkek court found him guilty of forging his Kyrgyz passport, and Temirov was bizarrely deported to Russia, where he also held citizenship.
WATCH: RFE/RL correspondents captured the moment the Bishkek offices of news website 24.kg were sealed off and computer equipment confiscated.
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Leading Kyrgyz News Agency Raided, Managers Taken For Questioning
He is since understood to have left Russia but remains unable to return to his homeland.
Yet even after his deportation, the outlet has continued its investigations and political discussions, earning millions of views across three YouTube channels that broadcast in Russian and Kyrgyz.
Kyrgyz authorities rarely come across positively in that content.
One investigation released in December targeted Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov, highlighting properties owned by the minister and his relatives and Niyazbekov's apparent ties to organized crime. It also featured detailed testimony from a businessman who said Niyazbekov had extorted him.
Two months before that investigation, the group indicated that a charity led by Japarov's wife received funding from foreign sources, even as authorities promote a Russian-style draft law that would allow them to register organizations receiving financing from abroad or foreign nationals as "foreign representatives."
In an interview with RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service on December 14, Temirov said that police were watching his team "day and night" since the investigation's release.
The subject for the charges on which 11 current and former Temirov Live staff have been arrested is a video published on YouTube last year by Ait, Ait Dese (Come On, Say It), a Temirov Live spinoff project.
According to the Interior Ministry, linguistic experts found evidence of calls for mass unrest in the broadcast. The ministry has yet to provide a more detailed explanation.
A court ruled on January 17 to keep the detainees locked up for two months pending investigation of the charges.
Among them is Temirov's wife, Makhabat Tajibek-kyzy, presenter Aike Beishekeeva, and three former Temirov Live journalists now working for other media outlets.
A march in support of free speech, freedom, and media in Kyrgyzstan on November 25, 2022.
Speaking about the arrests for the first time this week in comments published by the state information agency Kabar on January 19, Japarov claimed his government supported freedom of speech and welcomed "good-quality" media investigations.
"But in most cases, bloggers are busy distorting facts, making mountains out of molehills, or resorting to manipulation and misleading society," Japarov said.
Japarov also listed several media organizations that had received grants from organizations such as the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy, which he said sometimes amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"We understand these grants are allocated as part of projects on freedom of speech, support for the media community, development of independent journalism, and so on. But in reality it turns out that the funds are not used for their intended purpose. A policy is being pursued to discredit the authorities, denigrate public policy, agitate society, [make] anticonstitutional statements, and disseminate fake information that poses a threat to national security," the president claimed.
Angry Reactions
Temirov has said that the real reason for the arrests of his colleagues is their investigations of top officials.
There are likewise suspicions that the criminal case being built against 24.kg is merely a pretext to force it to tone down its reporting.
Kyrgyzstan - Detained current and former journalists of the Kyrgyz editorial office "Temirov Live".
The agency's general director, Asel Otorbaeva, and editors in chief Anton Lymar and Mahinur Niyazova were all taken away for interrogation after their office was raided on January 15, the day before the raids on former and current Temirov Live staff.
The three 24.kg journalists were released that evening.
The website is formally being investigated by the UKMK for "war propaganda" in relation to an unnamed article covering the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
24.kg's leadership has called the accusation baseless.
The website has been blocked by Russia's Roskomnadzor media regulator since September of last year.
24.kg does not do investigations of the Temirov Live type. But it is known for its sometimes spiky headlines such as: Everybody Is Equal Under The Law. But The President's Relatives Are More Equal. And for casting doubt on the statements of officials and lawmakers.
Niyazova's sarcastic and government-critical posts on X, formerly Twitter, have turned her into something of a hate figure for pro-government trolls, meanwhile.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov speaks at a UN conference on September 22, 2023.
In a January 16 statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) raised alarm that Kyrgyz authorities were "renewing their assault on key independent media" through the raids and arrests.
The watchdog's Eurasia chief, Gulnoza Said, called the authorities' confiscation of equipment from the offices of 24.kg and Temirov Live "deeply concerning," noting that confidential sources could be at risk.
Diplomatic "statements of concern" followed from the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union's delegation in the country.
Unfortunately, it appears that there will be plenty of fodder for such statements in the coming period.
At present, there are few critical media outlets without problems.
Kloop, which has investigated illegal enrichment schemes involving some of Kyrgyzstan's powerful people in the past, currently faces a legal battle to prevent the liquidation of its parent organization, Kloop Media.
SEE ALSO: Anger In Kyrgyzstan As Self-Proclaimed 'New God' Becomes The Latest Prison DeathTwo other independent outlets, Kaktus and Politklinika, were as of last year tied up in civil cases initiated by pro-government and government-owned media.
But the biggest blow of all might be struck by the country's parliament, the pro-regime Jogorku Kenesh, where only a handful of lawmakers spoke out against the authorities' actions against Temirov Live and 24.kg.
That is because the legislature is due to consider a media law that sector experts have warned could do untold damage to Kyrgyz journalism.
In yet another condemnation of the crackdown, seven international human rights groups -- among them Human Rights Watch and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee -- called the draft law "repressive" and urged the parliament not to pass it in its current form.
"The draft law would significantly expand government control over the media and grant the authorities wide powers to deny media outlets registration, obstruct their work, and close them down," the rights groups said on January 16.