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The Kyrgyz Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned the six-year prison sentence of an independent investigative journalist and ordered a new trial. The move came after months of mounting international pressure.
Investigative reporter Makhabat Tazhibek kyzy, a reporter for the investigative outlet Temirov Live, will have her case sent back to a lower court. Until the ruling, she was the only journalist from the outlet still behind bars following a sweeping crackdown on the press.
Tazhibek kyzy and 10 former colleagues were detained during police raids in January 2024 and accused of inciting and organizing mass riots. Rights groups and colleagues maintain the charges were retaliation for the outlet's reporting on high-level corruption in the Central Asian nation. Tazhibek kyzy was convicted and sentenced in October 2024.
The Supreme Court's decision to review the case and resume proceedings follows intense lobbying by international bodies. In November 2025, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention publicly called on Kyrgyz authorities to immediately release Tazhibek kyzy and cease a campaign of intimidation against independent media. Earlier, in April 2025, the U.N. Human Rights Office urged the government to review the convictions and remove conditional sentences imposed on the reporters.
Bolot Temirov, editor-in-chief of Temirov Live—a partner of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project—said the U.N. intervention heavily influenced the court’s review of his wife's case.
“Based on the decision of the U.N. working group as a whole, the court began its consideration,” Temirov told the OCCRP. “The U.N. working group's conclusion presents all the arguments and evidence that this was an illegal arrest and unlawful criminal prosecution. Well, that's better than nothing.”
Of the 11 journalists originally detained, colleague Azamat Ishenbekov was also sentenced to prison but was later pardoned by the president. Two others, Aktilek Kaparov and Aike Beishekeeva, were released on probation, while the remaining journalists were acquitted due to a lack of evidence.
The prosecution of the Temirov Live journalists has prompted international condemnation, with organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders accusing Kyrgyzstan of a concerted effort to muzzle free speech.
