Photo: knews.kg
Agents of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB) have detained Alexander Alexandrov, a cameraman for the independent outlet Kloop, and former Kloop journalist Joomart Duulatov. Both are suspected of inciting mass unrest, according to their lawyer, Bakyt Avtandil, who spoke to Kloop.
Avtandil said Alexandrov and Duulatov were detained on May 28 for 48 hours, during which a court is expected to decide on pre-trial measures. Authorities initially denied the men access to legal counsel, claiming an attorney was unnecessary during “informal” questioning. Both journalists were taken to a GKNB temporary detention facility.
In addition to Alexandrov and Duulatov, five more people were detained on May 28, including Kloop reporters Aiday Erkebaeva and Zyyagul Bolot kyzy, former Kloop employee Zara Sadygalieva, and two women who were with them at the time of the arrests.
According to Avtandil, all five were later released without charges. They were questioned as witnesses, though some had their phones and other equipment confiscated during searches. The seized devices will be returned after examination, the lawyer said. The exact reason for the arrests remains unclear, as those released were made to sign nondisclosure agreements.
Kloop co-founder Rinat Tukhvatshin called the detentions a “kidnapping,” noting that the individuals were not allowed to contact family or access legal representation. “Only two of them managed to notify anyone of their arrest. The other five simply disappeared. We located them at the GKNB only through friends and our lawyer,” he said.
Tukhvatshin described the authorities’ actions as a blatant violation of both the criminal procedure code and basic human rights. He called on the Kyrgyz government to explain the grounds for the detentions and urged international organizations, including the United Nations, to respond.
He also issued a direct statement to President Sadyr Japarov and GKNB chief Kamchybek Tashiev:
“We understand that you are indifferent to the fate of journalists, but we must stress that the GKNB is destroying any remaining notion of Kyrgyzstan as a country capable of fair legal proceedings. The right to legal representation is a basic right. You are trampling on it. And that is deeply shameful.”
On May 29, Dairbek Orunbekov, head of the presidential press service, commented on the situation in a Facebook post (Facebook is owned by Meta, designated as extremist in Russia). He claimed the detained journalists had worked with investigative reporter Bolot Temirov, who was deported from Kyrgyzstan by court order in 2022.
According to Orunbekov, Temirov paid the journalists $500–800 per month using Western grants and allegedly instructed them to produce fake investigations targeting the state. Orunbekov also claimed the detainees admitted to following Temirov’s “illegal instructions,” but said they had since ceased working with the exiled journalist.
