On Thursday, a court in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, 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 border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the Batken region.
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The Kyrgyz government is calling for the closure of a radio station that broadcast a video of violence on the Kyrgyz-Tajikistan border in the Batken region.
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According to the Ministry of Culture, the coverage violates the Kyrgyz 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 move to demand the closure of Radio Azattyk, saying the case represents “a major new obstacle to press freedom” which is “under increasing pressure” in Kyrgyzstan.
Fighting on the disputed Kyrgyz-Tajikistan border killed at least 94 people and injured more than 100 in September 2022, the deadliest clashes in years.
