In hope to get a lighter sentence, two former cameramen who worked for the investigative Kyrgyz outlet Kloop again pleaded guilty to inciting mass unrest during the appeal process against a verdict that sent them behind bars for five years.
The two pleaded guilty in September but later said they they did so under duress. Prosecutors claimed that they had incited unrest with their reporting about corruption and organized crime.
This time, their lawyer said, the renewed plea could help secure probation.
Alexander Aleksandrov and Joomart Duulatov renewed their plea at the Bishkek City Court on Tuesday, according to Kloop, an OCCRP partner organization. The two said their September confessions were coerced in exchange for house arrest.
“The first time I confessed, I honestly admit, I was terrified. It was the first time I ended up in a pretrial detention center. And the investigators suggested that I confess, after which they would release me under house arrest and a travel ban. [I confessed] out of fear of ending up behind bars,” said Zhoomart Duulatov in September.
Aleksandrov confirmed his colleague's words. “The case file contains my testimony that I allegedly filmed and edited the video footage mentioned in the case, but I did not do so. I was offered house arrest in exchange for such testimony. I was forced to slander myself,” he said.
The court's decision is expected to be announced on November 25; the hearing was postponed because one of the defendants, cameraman Aleksandrov, did not have time to say his final words.
The conviction of Kloop’s former employees is one of a series of cases of pressure on the independent press in Kyrgyzstan since President Japarov took office in October 2020.
On October 27, a Kyrgyz court branded Kloop and another investigative media outlet, Temirov Live, as “extremist.” Their publications were labeled “extremist” as well, and the newsroom’s online and social media activity is banned.
Days later, Kyrgyz authorities requested Interpol to issue an international warrant against Kloop’s co-founder Rinat Tuhvatshin. However, a request from Kyrgyzstan was rejected, according to Interpol’s answer to OCCRP.
“Interpol’s constitution has strict rules preventing our system from being used for political purposes, and so we have declined the Red Notice request,” said Samuel Heath, Interpol’s director of communications.
Temirov Live and its founder, Bolot Temirov, were also targets of attacks that intensified since January 2024, when police raided the offices and homes of 11 Temirov Live employees, charging them with “inciting mass unrest.”
Seven were later acquitted, two were given three years’ probation, and two — Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and Azamat Ishenbekov — received prison sentences of six and five years, respectively. Ishenbekov was later pardoned by the president.
