A court in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Thursday rescheduled for March 15 a hearing on a request by the country’s culture ministry to shut down the local branch of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, called Radio Azattyk.
Radio Azattyk’s website was blocked in Kyrgyzstan in October 2022 and its bank accounts frozen under national money laundering laws, due to a video report on clashes on the Kyrgyz-Tajikistan border in the Batken region.
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The Kyrgyz government is calling for the closure of a radio station that published a video report on violence on the Kyrgyz-Tajikistan border in the Batken region.
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According to the Ministry of Culture, the coverage violates Kyrgyzstan’s media law, which prohibits “war propaganda, violence and cruelty, national and religious exclusion, and intolerance towards other peoples and nations.” The website ban was declared “indefinite” in December 2022.
The Reporters Without Borders group condemned the culture ministry’s decision to seek the closure of Radio Azattyk, saying the case raises “a major new obstacle to press freedom” that is “under increasing pressure” in Kyrgyzstan.
Fighting on the disputed border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan killed at least 94 people and injured more than 100 in September 2022, the deadliest clashes in years.
