Bishkek, April 11, 2024 / Kabar/. 11 people were detained in Kyrgyzstan at the beginning of 2024 by the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs for calling for mass riots. Three of them were placed under house arrest in March and four in early April. Are there political reasons for their detention? Kabar Agency asked these and other questions of the country’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ulan Niyazbekov.
- Two days ago, four of the 11 jailed journalist-bloggers were released under house arrest. At the beginning of March, three of those arrested were placed under house arrest. Four remain in custody. Regarding the 11 arrested citizens, a number of international organizations declared that this is a pressure on journalism and made statements about their release. What can you say about this?
- Not all of them are journalists. Only two of them are journalists. The remaining nine are bloggers. Six of them do not have even higher education. Only high school graduates. Now seven are under house arrest. The courts freed them. The courts are not accountable to us. We cannot say whether they are freeing them at the request of international organizations or whether they are freeing them themselves.
- Are there any political reasons for their detention? Is that true that they were imprisoned for criticizing the government, including you?
- There are no political reasons. If they continue to write everything what comes to their mind without facts and evidences, just saying that they are journalists, then we will arrest them. Is it normal if they write false slanders and spread false information as journalists and not to be responsible for that? They are not educated people, who do not know journalism and its laws. They spread false information because they don't have education and make people panic. And there is no need to make noise about them saying that they are journalists.
In Europe and the USA, journalists do not spread false or unverified information. They don't accuse someone without proof. If someone tries to slander someone or spread false information about the activities of the authorities, they will be brought to court and pay a large compensation or be imprisoned. We should have the same order as in Europe and the USA. Let the people criticize us and the government, there is no ban on it. We have and will always have freedom of speech. Our only demand is to gather evidence or make the information very precise and then release it to the public. If they spread false information saying that the government has done it this way, the ministry has done it like this, and call people to unrest, then we will arrest them.
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