OSCE Urges Kyrgyzstan To Lift Ban On News Website

The OSCE;s representative on media freedom Dunja Mijatovic

The media-freedom representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has called on Kyrgyzstan's government to immediately lift its block on the Fergananews.com news website.

OSCE official Dunja Mijatovic issued a statement calling on Kyrgyz authorities to ensure Internet freedom in the Central Asian country.

The website -- which is also known as Fergana.ru and Fergana.news -- was blocked by the state-controlled Internet services provider Kyrgyztelecom on the written instructions of the Kyrgyz State Communications Agency.

Another Internet service provider, Aknet, also reported receiving such a letter, although many other Kyrgyz Internet providers said they had no such information.

In mid-2011, the Kyrgyz parliament passed a resolution calling on the website to be blocked throughout the country, citing the site's coverage of the June 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan.