Kyrgyz Ministry Seeks To Stop Operations Of RFE/RL's Radio Azattyk.

Journalists from RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk, report from outside the parliament building in Bishkek in December 2020.

BISHKEK -- The Kyrgyz Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policy Ministry has asked the Lenin district court in Bishkek to halt the media operations of RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk and officially registered as Azattyk Media.

The ministry informed RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service about the move on January 23. It remains unclear when exactly the request was made.
According to the ministry, the request was made due to Radio Azattyk's refusal to remove from the Internet a video about clashes last year along a disputed segment of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

The Lenin district court said separately that it will look into the ministry's request on February 8.
Kyrgyz authorities blocked Radio Azattyk’s websites in Kyrgyz and Russian in late October after the media outlet refused to take down the video in question that was produced by Current Time, a Russian-language network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with Voice of America.

Officials of the Central Asian country have claimed the authors of the video "predominantly" took the position of the Tajik side.

The authorities' decision was based on the Law on Protection from False Information, legislation that drew widespread criticism when it was adopted in August 2021.
Radio Azattyk's bank account in Bishkek was frozen at the time, and in November Kyrgyz authorities suspended the accreditations of 11 RFE/RL correspondents at parliament.

In response to the notification of the move, RFE/RL President and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Fly rejected "these continued unlawful attacks against Radio Azattyk and our independent reporting."

"We will pursue all available legal means to preserve our operations in the country. We will continue to serve our loyal Kyrgyz audiences no matter what actions the Kyrgyz government takes," Fly said.

The government's decision has been criticized by domestic and international human rights watchdogs, Kyrgyz politicians, celebrities, intellectuals, journalists, lawmakers, and rights activists, who have called for the government to repeal it.
RFE/RL has appealed the move to block the sites with Bishkek's Birinchi Mai district court. The first hearing into the appeal is scheduled for January 26.