The sentences against the former Kloop employees mark a dark turning point for press freedom in Kyrgyzstan. President Sadyr Japarov’s government has transformed what was once a regional haven for independent media into a country where journalists face years in prison simply for doing their jobs.
Human Rights Watch on Friday condemned the recent sentencing of two former media workers in Kyrgyzstan who were convicted of “public calls for mass unrest,” according to their employer. Joomort Duulatov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov, former camera operators for Kloop, were sentenced to five years in prison.
Duulatov and Aleksandrov, along with six other current and former employees of Kloop, were detained by the State Committee on National Security (SCNS) in May 2025 for producing five videos criticizing the government on the YouTube channel of exiled investigative journalist Bolot Temirov. Duulatov and Aleksandrov denied the charges, and Kloop has rejected any link to Temirov. Two accountants of the media outlet were also given suspended sentences of three years.
Recently, several former and current employees of Kloop have been detained by the SCNS. Kloop founder Rinat Tuhvatshin called these arrests “abductions,” rejecting the allegations and denying that the detainees worked with Bolot Temirov. Several rights organizations said that detaining journalists for their work, denying access to legal counsel and carrying out warrantless searches of homes were a violation of Kyrgyz legal obligations as well as international humanitarian law standards.
Although the four detainees initially pleaded guilty, they retracted their confessions in September. HRW claimed that prosecutors were unable to provide any evidence from devices and financial records confiscated to justify the charges. However, the journalists were still convicted.
Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, highlighted the prosecution’s failure to provide tangible evidence for their conviction. She added:
These convictions are part of a series of actions that represent an ongoing crackdown on press freedom. Since coming to power in 2021, President Sadyr Japarov has been stifling independent voices, applying mounting pressure on civil society and independent media.
Kloop, founded in 2007, rose to prominence due to its investigative reporting on corruption, human rights abuses, and political issues, especially after the 2010 Kyrgyz revolution. Over the past few years, Kloop, along with several other media outlets such as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz service and Aprel TV, has been facing legal crackdowns, arrests, and bans. Kloop’s legal battle began in 2023 with the Bishkek city prosecutor filing a suit of liquidation, claiming the outlet was functioning as a journalistic entity, carrying out activities beyond what had been delineated in its charter. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court order to liquidate the outlet, Kloop announced on August 29, 2024. Several rights groups had condemned the decisions to liquidate the broadcaster. President Japarov defended the court decision, dismissing any threats to press freedom and claiming Kloop’s reporting to be biased.
The Kyrgyz crackdown also saw the enactment of the Foreign Representative Law, modelled after the Russian Foreign Agents law. The new law requires non-profits, including some media organisations, to be registered as foreign representatives. Several organisations, including the CPJ, have called for the law’s repeal.
