BISHKEK -- The Bishkek City Court has canceled a lower court decision to reject an appeal filed by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk, against the freezing of its bank account last year.
Judge Bolot Satybaldiev ruled on April 13 that RFE/RL's appeal must be reviewed by Bishkek's Administrative Court. He did not elaborate on his decision.
Last month, the Kyrgyz capital’s Administrative Court rejected RFE/RL's appeal without explaining the reasoning behind its ruling.
Kyrgyzstan's State Financial Intelligence (FChK) informed Radio Azattyk in early November that its bank accounts were frozen in accordance with the law on money laundering after a "flag was raised" by security services.
The move came days after the Central Asian nation's Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policies Ministry blocked Radio Azattyk's websites in Kyrgyz and Russian, citing RFE/RL's refusal to remove from the websites a video about deadly clashes along a disputed segment of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in September, alleging that the video took the position of the Tajik side.
The video in question was produced by Current Time, the Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with Voice of America.
In December, the FChK told RFE/RL that after a special inspection, the media outlet had been excluded from the registry of potential money launderers. However, RFE/RL's bank accounts remain frozen.
RFE/RL President and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Fly has rejected accusations of biased reporting, saying the broadcaster "takes our commitment to balanced reporting seriously" and that after a review of the content in question, "no violation of our standards" was found.
Dozens of media organizations, domestic and international rights groups, Kyrgyz politicians, and lawmakers have urged the government to unblock Radio Azattyk’s websites.
In early February, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the Kyrgyz authorities’ move to seek Radio Azattyk’s closure, saying the case poses “a major new obstacle to press freedom,” which it said is “under growing pressure” in Kyrgyzstan.