Bolot Temirov

Affiliated media: Temirov Live, Investigative journalist

Incident date: January 28, 2022

Attack type:

• Defamation, spreading libel about a media worker or media outlet

Who attacked: Unknown sources

Source: Radio Azattyk

Location: Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek

Additional information:

A few days after the search with the confiscation of equipment, seizure of servers from surveillance cameras, and the arrest of the well-known investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, he started being bullied and discredited on social networks. Anonymous users posted several videos on their Facebook pages, calling the journalist a «criminal» and a «state traitor,» thus trying to portray Temirov as an agent of foreign influence. Notably, the videos used project reports, contracts, and other documents that were on disk in the confiscated computers of Temirov Live’s editorial office. Journalists link the arrests, questionings, and searches of police officers to the professional activities of Temirov Live and the latest investigation into the fuel business of the family of Kamchybek Tashiev, head of the State Committee of National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic.