Affiliated media: Newspaper 'Asia News', Newspaper

Incident date: June 17, 2020

Attack type:

• Prosecution for libel, insult, violation of privacy (1)

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: 24.kg

Location: Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek

Additional information:

The City Court of Bishkek fined 'Asia News' newspaper. According to the verdict, the opposition newspaper has to pay 50,000 Kyrgyz soms (about US $ 700) in a lawsuit to protect the honour and dignity of ex-Deputy Prime Minister Zhenish Razzakov. In March 2019, after the conflict and armed riots on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, the newspaper's journalists published an article that spoke about the cooperation of the ex-official with the special services of Tajikistan. The former deputy prime minister has filed a lawsuit against the newspaper, demanding compensation for damages of 10 million Kyrgyz soms (about $ 134,000). During several court hearings, the amount of the claim has decreased by more than five times.