Affiliated media: Azattyk Media, Media company

Incident date: March 24, 2023

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: 24.kg

Location: Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek

Additional information:

The Leninsky District Court of Bishkek started hearing a lawsuit filed by the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policy to terminate the activities of Azattyk Media as a media outlet. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture insist on linguistic expertise, which includes two questions: whether the disputed story has elements of hostility and propaganda of war. However, Nurbek Sydykov, a representative of the defendant, noted that the expertise should have been conducted before the decision to block the website was made, especially if the plaintiff claims that the contested story uses elements of hostility and war propaganda. However, the Ministry of Culture officials did not approach the experts, making the decision on their own, and now they have requested an expert review, hence they are not sure of their assessment.