The Bishkek Prosecutor’s Office filed a lawsuit to liquidate «Kloop Media», known as kloop.kg, in the Oktyabrsky and Pervomaysky district courts of the city.
Information about this came to light on Monday, August 28.
The document states that the reason for filing the lawsuit is “engaging in activities outside the scope of the statute.”
The Prosecutor’s Office says «Kloop Media» is not listed in the State Register of Mass Media and the Statute of the Organization does not specify the dissemination of information. However, it is indicated as «providing the youth and other representatives of civil society with an information platform for the free expression of their opinion on socio-political and economic processes».
The statement also says that the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) conducted an investigation into the materials published by “Kloop” at different times and came to the conclusion that its publications “are aimed at sharp criticism of the policy of the current government.
“A forensic psychological and psychiatric examination was conducted and based on the results of this examination dated as of March 29, 2023, expert psychiatrists issued a conclusion specifying certain publications, stating that they “have direct hidden techniques that are purposefully capable of shaping a negative opinion regarding the policy of the current KR government and the state program as a whole,” “there is propaganda of a negative attitude to distort the thinking of the population from generally accepted norms and standards,” “these publications may not only lead to the growth of socio-psychological tension in society but also lead to a negative distortion of the people’s perception of the current government”.
As it turns out, back in November 2021, the SCNS started pre-trial proceedings against the “Kloop” publication on the fact of “public calls to seize power” and conducted several “forensic-psychological-psychiatric examinations” of kloop.kg materials, the conclusion says that they “contain hidden manipulation of public opinion, which is imposed negative processes and do not correspond to reality creating opposition to any endeavors of the current government”.
One of the publications that the forensic examination allegedly analyzed, titled “Migrants save the South of Kyrgyzstan”, was not found on the website and social media pages of “Kloop”.
The statement of claim contains a number of the following conclusions:
“The consequence of the negative impact of “Kloop” on the socio-economic situation in the border regions of Batken oblast is that the flow of internal and external migration from there is not reduced.”
“There are statements containing the propaganda of inferiority of citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic in comparison with the Russian nation” and “there are statements that are of a hostile derogatory nature against citizens of the Russian nationality.”
“Kloop” with its reports directly has a negative emotional and psychological impact on society, thus generating emotions of fear, anxiety, despair, panic in a huge mass of people, constantly feeling the instability and uncertainty of the social situation, losing confidence in their strength and hopes for the future. Gradually their fate becomes spiritual depression, hopelessness, dreary expectation of life’s collapse, leading to the development of socially stressful mental disorders with aggressive-criminal behavior, sexual anomalies, chemical and non-chemical forms of addiction, suicidal mood and other disorders of social adaptation”.
The full version of the statement of claim can be found here.
Lawyer of the Institute of Media Policy Akmat Alagushev, commenting 24.kg called absurd the lawsuit of the Bishkek Prosecutor‘s Office on the liquidation of the Kloop Media public foundation, which is better known as the Kloop website.kg.
According to him, this is a direct pressure on freedom of speech.
“The claims reflected in the statement of claim are very rambling and insubstantial. The way I understood, the lawsuit is focused on the draft law “On Mass Media” but it has not been adopted yet,” Akmat Alagushev said.
“This is another blow to freedom of speech, which is confirmed by the wording, in particular, “most of the publications are negatively aimed at discrediting representatives of state and municipal bodies”. What is this, if not an attempt to silence journalists? — said Akmat Alagushev.
Kloop editor-in-chief Anna Kapushenko told local media that the prosecutor’s claims are unfounded and called the lawsuit part of a long chain of repressive actions by the current authorities against human rights defenders and the press.
“I think that if the court accepts the claim, then, given the trend that exists in Kyrgyzstan with freedom of speech, pressure, this claim will be satisfied. And our foundation, which is engaged in content creation, will most likely be liquidated. How are we going to proceed? We will continue working through the Internet. We assumed that media blocking is possible in Kyrgyzstan and we know «Azattyk» case, there was blocking», – the editor said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Kyrgyz authorities to withdraw their statement on the closure of Kloop Media. The Committee made such a statement on Monday, August 28.
“The statement from the Kyrgyz authorities to shut down Kloop is an outrageous and deeply cynical attempt to stifle some of the most sensitive investigative journalism in Kyrgyzstan, including investigations into alleged corruption involving leading government officials,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director in New York.
The lawyer of the publication Fatima Yakupbayeva informed the committee that Kloop can file a complaint against the application only if the court refuses to consider the case. Yakupbayeva added that Kloop’s reporting is presented in the foundation’s statute under such activities as analyzing current events and providing an information platform for free expression of opinions on socio-political and economic events.
Kloop co-founder Bektur Iskender told CPJ by phone that he believes the closure announcement might relate to Kloop’s Aug. 22 investigation, which alleged that relatives of the Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov and the head of the country’s State Committee for National Security were involved in the construction of a soccer academy for Spanish soccer club Barcelona in the country.
