13/03/2018: KYRGYZSTAN – REPRESSION AGAINST MEDIA

Vienna, 13/03/2018

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path.

TO:

The Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Legislation, State System, Rule of Law and Human Rights

The Parliamenary Committee on Social Issues, Education, Science, Culture and Health

The undersigned members of IFEX, the global network of organisations working to promote and defend freedom of expression and information worldwide, write to you to express our concern over recent developments regarding the climate for media freedom in Kyrgyzstan.

In particular, we are alarmed at the use of defamation lawsuits to levy disproportionate fines, travel bans and other harsh penalties against journalists and media outlets accused of insulting the President under the ‘Law On Guarantees for Activity of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic’. As obligated by the Law, the General Prosecutor has pursued several lawsuits against individual journalists and media entities on behalf of both the sitting and ex-President, using the far-reaching powers granted him to take legal action against anyone deemed to have “discredited” the “honour and reputation” of the President or former president(s). In addition, a proposed law titled, ‘Amending the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic’ that was recently approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Science, Culture, and Health, could create further justification for punishing journalists and others on broad and legally ambiguous grounds for exercising their right to free expression.

In a worrying example of the existing Law’s application, in April 2017 a case was brought on behalf of ex-President Almazbek Atambayev against the founders of the popular news site Zanoza.kg, the website itself, and several other affiliated defendants after the publication of an article criticising the arrest of the opposition leader, Omurbek Tekebaev. The attendant proceedings were marred by significant procedural irregularities, circumvention of the pretrial dispute mechanism, and infringement of the defendants’ rights to an adversarial defense. The website and its founders have since been fined 27 million Kyrgyz soms (equivalent to about US$338,000) and face potential prison time for failure to pay within a month. In addition, some of their assets have been frozen and they have been barred from leaving the country. The outrageously large fines, the small window granted to them for payment, along with the irregular trial proceedings make it clear that this is a politically motivated attempt to silence critical reporting through legislative harassment.

Such harassment of journalists and the media has continued into 2018. On 22 February, the Supreme Court upheld a sentence requiring journalist Kabai Karabekov to pay 5 million soms for “offending” the new president, Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Freelance journalist Elnura Alkanova has been charged with “seeking and disclosing confidential commercial information” and also faces a travel ban for an investigative report on the allegedly corrupt sale of government property. The blocking of Fergana News’ website and closure of Sentyabr, a news channel aligned with the opposition, along with both voluntary and forced expulsions of local and foreign journalists alike, including Ulugek Babulakov, Russian journalist Grigoriy Mikhailov and Agence France-Presse’s Chris Rickleton, mark other low points for media freedom in Kyrgyzstan.

Under these circumstances, a new bill that would amend the civil code to establish mandatory compensation for offending the “honour, dignity and business reputation” of all citizens across a broad range of mediums, threatens to create a society-wide threat to free expression.

Such laws contradict internationally recognized standards around defamation and libel laws, which are intended to protect persons from false statements of fact, not feelings or interests. Furthermore, concerning the application of these laws to public officials, The UN Human Rights Committee’s General Comment 34 makes clear that, “[I]n circumstances of public debate concerning public figures in the political domain and public institutions, the value placed by the Covenant upon uninhibited expression is particularly high. Thus, the mere fact that forms of expression are considered to be insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify the imposition of penalties…”

While Kyrgyzstan has generally been a rare positive example in a region where autocracy has been the rule, recent developments threaten to send the country down a similarly repressive path. When small media outlets are forced to shut down due to lawsuits by government officials, this significantly damages freedom of speech in the long term, increases self-censorship in the media, weakens their role in communicating socially significant information to citizens, and can play a role in the overall decline of socioeconomic and political conditions.

Rules and regulations can either enable or hinder the growth of media and restrict or promote particular kinds of content. An empowering legal regime will allow media to cover hard-hitting investigative reports and fulfill their function as a democratic watchdog without fear of legal sanction, making governments more accountable.

For this reason, the undersigned organisations call on the government of Kyrgyzstan to withdraw punitive lawsuits and other restrictions against local journalists and media outlets and review and amend the ‘Law On Guarantees for Activity of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic’ to bring it in line with international standards. We also call on Parliament to reject the legislative amendments contained in the draft law on ‘Amending the Civil Code of the Kyrgyz Republic’, due to its similar incompatibility with established standards on legal limits to free expression.

Sincerely,

Media Policy Institute
Public Association “Journalists”
Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC)
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
ARTICLE 19
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI)
Center for Independent Journalism – Romania
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Foro de Periodismo Argentino
Freedom Forum
Globe International Center
Independent Journalism Center – Moldova
Index on Censorship
International Press Centre (IPC)
Mediacentar Sarajevo
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Watch
Norwegian PEN
Pacific Islands News Association
Pakistan Press Foundation
PEN American Center
PEN International
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Vigilance for Democracy and the Civic State
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Vienna, 12/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) was relieved to learn that on 9 March, a court in Istanbul ordered the release of two journalists from the governmental-critical paper Cumhuriyet, while anticipating the conclusion of their trial for terror charges.

Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative journalist Ahmet Sik (Ahmet Şık) were freed on bail a year after their initial imprisonment, following the prosecution of the paper´s staff for terror-related charges.

The two men were freed after a day-long hearing by a judge, while the court decided that the paper´s executive board chairman Akin Atalay must remain in custody.

“SEEMO welcomes the decision of the court to temporarily release Sabuncu and Sik and strongly urges authorities in Turkey to drop or revoke all charges brought against them. However, it is difficult to rejoice in their freedom, when over 150 journalists in Turkey remain either behind bars, accused of similar or same charges, or face jail for arbitrary allegations that were meant to silence and censor them. All press workers in Turkey must be given the chance to work freely, without legislative or any other form of intimidation, and without fear that their words and opinions will have them jailed”, said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 11/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemned the conviction of investigative journalist Gergely Nyilas on Tuesday, 6 March.

Following the surge of immigrant asylum seekers during the summer of 2015, Nyilas, who works for news site Index.hu and at the time reported about migration, entered Hungary in disguise, claiming he was an immigrant from Kyrgyzstan. After he revealed his true identity, he was accused of misleading authorities and forging public documents.

On Tuesday, a court in the city of Gyor (Győr) convicted the journalist and sentenced him to cover the costs of the lawsuit against him.

SEEMO harshly condemns the decision of the court against Gergely Nyilas and reminds authorities in Hungary that it was prohibited for journalists to enter refugee camps at the time, despite many requests from a majority of media outlets in Hungary. SEEMO supports Nyilas´ statement that he wanted to inform the public about the situation within the camps and the treatment of asylum seekers by authorities.

Prohibiting them from informing the public about relevant issues is detrimental to both media freedom and human rights.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe

Vienna, 08/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court in Ukraine, which decided to review the case of journalist Igor Efimov.

Efimov, who is a reporter for the newspaper Vechirni Cherkasy, was allegedly attacked by police members while reporting in Cherkasy in central Ukraine, despite having clearly and repeatedly identified himself as a journalist. He obtained serious injuries, including a brain concussion and shoulder dislocation. In February of this year, the Supreme Court noted that the previous decision to release a police officer suspected in the attack on Efimov was not legitimate nor justifiable, and the case must be reviewed by the appellate court again.

SEEMO supports this court decision.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 07/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed concern for the state of media in Hungary and its apparent worsening of free speech.

Since Viktor Orban (Viktor Orbán) reassumed the position of Prime Minister in 2010, SEEMO has registered many cases of media freedom violations and cases of unprofessional reporting in Hungary.

One news web-portal with alleged ties to the government published a story following the 1 October shooting of 58 people in Las Vegas with the headline “People on Twitter are wondering why George Soros sold his stocks before the Las Vegas massacre”.

Soros has also been the center plotline in countless other conspiracy theories published by Hungarian media, such as one in which he backed a campaign to overturn Brexit and undermine the Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May.

This organised media propaganda is systematically being fed to older, less educated generation of media consumers in Hungary, making it continuously more difficult for independent, critical media outlets to work and survive.

The consequences of not supporting professional and ethical journalistic work are already visible in Hungary through a diminishing number of media outlets and civil society organisations and the diminishing of their scope of activities.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 05/03/2018

After a last year attack on a journalist, according to a court decision in Croatia, Nenad Sajnovic (Nenad Šajnović) got 15 months of imprisonment and Ana Sajnovic (Ana Šajnović) was convicted to 6 months suspended sentence for threatening and to 30 days of imprisonment for disturbing law and order as well as to pay 1000 HRK for court expenses

On 16 September 2017 in Velki Pašijan a crew of Nova TV was shooting a story and was approached by Nenad Šajnović threatening to kill the crew members. He came to reporter Ema Branica and pushed her hard so she tumbled into a ditch. Then he attacked cameraman trying to break his camera. According to the police report Ana Šajnović (73) was supporting Šajnović in the attack by screaming and beating the TV crew.

SEEMO condemned the attack and called institutions to protect journalists.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 05/03/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) was relieved to learn that Uzbek critical journalist Yusuf Rozimurodov has been released from prison in February.

Rozimurodov has spent 19 years behind bars on sedition charges, holding the longest-known prison term served by a journalist. He was released on 22 February from a penal colony in the town of Chirchik, near the capital Tashkent, and returned to his home village in the Qashqadaryo region.

Rozimurodov, today 54, was an active member of the opposition party Erk (Freedom) and wrote for the party newspaper. He was arrested in 1999, shortly after explosions in Tashkent which officials claimed were an attempt of assassination on the life of then-President Islam Karimov. The original sentence of 15 years found him guilty of plotting to kill the president and change the country´s constitutional order as well as creating a criminal group. The prison term was later prolonged.

Since Karimov´s death in 2016, his successor president Shavkat Mirziyoev has gradually agreed to release some political prisoners.

“We are relieved to learn that Yusuf Rozimurodov was finally set free, however the news cannot bring us any joy” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “After serving the longest sentence a journalist has had to face so far in Uzbekistan, he is released along with the unspoken realization that his imprisonment was absurd.” Vujovic added.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 26/02/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is shocked to learn of the death of Jan Kuciak, a 27-year-old Slovakian reporter working for “Aktuality.sk” (publisher Axel Springer) and his partner Martina Kusnirova. The bodies were found on 25 February 2018 at their home in Velka Maca (Veľká Mača), in south-west Slovakia, some 60 km from the Slovak capital Bratislava. Slovakian police launched a murder probe.

Kuciak, born on 17 May 1990, worked on corruption cases, as also on allegations of tax evasion and connections between businessmen and top-level Slovak politicians. Kuciak had also been working on an investigation that delved into the infiltration into Slovakia of the Calabrian mafia. His last story on 9 February reported about a businessman known for his real estate deals.

“I am shocked by this sad news. This murder is a clear step against investigative journalism and press freedom. We call the authorities for a transperent investigation”, said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

Kuciak is the first journalist ever to be killed in Slovakia.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe.

Vienna, 08/02/2018

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) harshly condemned the attacks against media workers that occurred during the re-election celebrations of Czech president Milos Zeman.

On 27 January in Prague, supporters of Milos Zeman physically hassled journalists at the president´s re-election headquarters. While media reporters were trying to report from the scene, they were repeatedly pushed and hit; one reporter´s camera was thrown on the ground in an effort to prevent him from filming.

“We condemn the behavior of the supporters of re-elected Czech president towards media workers” Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General stated.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission