Kyrgyz prosecutors have asked a court in Bishkek to sentence to six years in prison each of 11 former and current reporters for the Temirov Live investigative group on charges the journalists and rights groups have rejected as politically motivated.
Prosecutor Adilet Ubukeev asked the Lenin district court to convict and sentence the journalists on September 26.
Kyrgyz human rights defender Rita Karasartova decried the move, calling the prosecutors' demand "ridiculous."
"They demand six years in prison for each journalist. For what? Is journalism a crime?" she said after the court hearing.
"Is it a crime to compile journalistic materials, investigate, publish the investigation results, write about it? Is it a crime to criticize authorities?" Karasartova added while calling for the immediate release of all 11 journalists.
The journalists went on trial on June 7.
Four of them -- Makhabat Tajibek-kyzy, Azamat Ishenbekov, Aktilek Kaparov, and Aike Beishekeeva -- have been held in pretrial detention since January 16.
The other seven, Maksat Tajibek-uulu, Akyl Orozbekov, Jumabek Turdaliev, Joodar Buzumov, Saparbek Akunbekov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, and Tynystan Asypbekov, were transferred to house arrest amid an outcry from domestic and international human rights groups over the case.
SEE ALSO: International Rights Groups Urge Bishkek To Reverse Decision To Liquidate Kloop MediaThe Austrian-based International Press Institute also condemned the prosecutors' request and called on the Central Asian nation's authorities to "immediately release the journalists."
Rights groups and watchdogs have also decried the treatment of the journalists while in detention.
In April, the Kyrgyz Ombudsman's Institute said guards physically attacked Tajibek-kyzy and two of her cellmates in detention center No.1 in Bishkek.
Prosecutors said at the time that they launched a preliminary investigation into Tajibek-kyzy's complaint.
Tajibek-kyzy is the wife of prominent investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, the founder of Temirov Live who was deported to Moscow in November 2022 after a court ruled that he illegally obtained Kyrgyz citizenship.
Temirov, who held Kyrgyz and Russian passports, rejected the accusation and insisted the probe against him was launched after he published the results of an investigation suggesting corruption among top Kyrgyz officials.
Kyrgyzstan's free press and civil society have traditionally been the most vibrant in Central Asia, but that has changed amid a deepening government crackdown.
In early April, President Sadyr Japarov signed into law a controversial bill that allows authorities to register organizations as "foreign representatives," which critics say mirrors a repressive Russian law on "foreign agents" similar to one Moscow uses to muzzle independent journalism and NGOs.