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CAMEL - Central Asian Media Electronic List |
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website address: www.camsp.osh.kg 5.
Kyrghyzstan: Judge Believed to Avenge His Colleague on Journalist
Alisher
Khamidov Director, Osh Media
Resource Center On the eve of presidential elections in
Kyrgyzstan, the national press is increasingly under pressure. The case
of Jalal-Abad based journalist Moldosali Ibraimov is the last in a
series of such cases.
On
June 19th, Moldosali Ibraimov, a journalist from Suzak
municipality in the province of Jalal-Abad, was found guilty of libel
and sentenced to two years of imprisonment. He was immediately
imprisoned after the Jalal-Abad city court announced its verdict. The
verdict was made by judge Jusup Suleimanov, who sentenced Moldosali
Ibraimov to two years of imprisonment and imposed 100,000 soms (2,000 U$)
fine on the newspaper “Akiykat” that published his article. On
June 19th, about 24 Jalal-Abad journalists gathered in
front of the city court building to protest against the verdict. A group
of journalists from Osh arrived in Jalal-Abad on June 21st to
conduct their investigation on the case. After numerous meetings
with the Jalal-Abad journalists, human rights NGOs and involved
individuals, journalists from Osh have come to the conclusion, shared by
their Jalal-Abad colleagues, that the state authorities were not behind
the imprisonment of the journalist. “Akyikat” weekly is the
organ of the Jalal-Abad provincial administration. The Jalal-Abad
correspondent of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reports that
according
to some observers the act was a revenge by the judge Suleimanov for his
colleague Toktosun Kasymbekov. Accused of corruption Moldosali Ibraimov wrote on corruption among judges already in the past,
for which he has already
been detained for 5 days in 1996. After his release he sued the local
officials who arrested him, for
an unauthorized detention and violation of his human rights. The case
has not yet reached the court. But when judge Toktosun Kasymbekov sued
the journalist, the case was in the court in already 3 weeks. He was
convicted of libel against judge Kasymbekov in an article published last
April, and was detained in the court. In his article entitled "Sudia
kilmizh jasadibi?" (translation from Kyrgyz: "Did the Judge
Commit a Crime?") Moldosali Ibraimov alleged that judge Kasymbekov
of Suzak municipality has taken a bribe of around 15,000 U$ from a
parliamentary deputy candidate Turdubek Chekiev. To support this
allegation, the journalist referred to rumours in the community without
giving a concrete source. In May, judge Kasymbekov submitted a complaint,
and the city prosecutor filed a lawsuit against the journalist based on
the article 127 (2.3) of the Kyrgyzstan’s criminal code – libel. Local
NGOs, and various Osh and Jalal-Abad media representatives have
confirmed that the verdict of judge Suleimanov violated the freedom of
speech and expression, guaranteed by the national laws (article 16 of
the Kyrghyz Constitution, the Law on Media, or the Law on Protection of
Professional Activities of Journalists), as well as by
international norms (notably the UN Human Rights Declaration).
The disproportionate sentence – two years of imprisonment for a
journalist who does not pose any threat for the society - is yet another
indication that the motivation behind the verdict was not the justice
and the respect of law. A concrete support for the journalist The
second step for those concerned by the fate of Ibraimov, was to find a
good lawyer for the journalist to appeal the verdict of the court in
higher judiciary courts – the Jalal-Abad Province Court and the
Supreme Court of Kyrghyzstan. Local NGOs, Osh Media Resource Center (OMRC)
and Internews Network are involved to find a lawyer. As it was
anticipated, “Akyikat”, hired its own lawyer to represent its
interests of this state organ. Interestingly,
the chief of staff of the Jalal-Abad Governor Abdikhar Ibragimov had
initially appealed to the Osh Media Center and local NGOs, to help in
defending “Akyikat.” The third step was to mobilize the journalist
community of the Kyrgyz Republic, CIS and international media to support
the jailed journalist. The fourth step was to draft an open letter (to
be published in major mainstream newspapers) to President Askar Akaev,
senior members of the judiciary, leading statesmen, public figures and
parliament members, requesting to stop persecution of journalists;
guarantee rights and freedoms of journalists; pay a closer attention to
cases when judges violate the law; reconsider libel as a criminal
offence and change it to civil one On June 19th, the day the verdict was announced, 24 Jalal-Abad
journalists gathered in front of the Jalal-Abad city court protesting
the severe decision. They demanded that the verdict be nullified.In the
afternoon, Bakyt Orunbekov, the editor-in-chief of “Akikat” met with
the governor hoping to get support from him. The governor of Jalal Abad,
Kubanichbek Jumaliev, responded with an official statement saying that
he had no constitutional
right to exert pressure on the verdict made by the judiciary
representatives. On
June 21 , Vecherni Bishkek, one of the leading mainstream media outlets
based in the capital, printed an article by Alexander Tuzov where the
case of Moldosali Ibraimov was called a “Jalal-Abad Case Against the
Media.” The author concluded that the case of Ibraimov and
“Akyikat” can be a precedent, and may trigger a war between the
“third power” (Judiciary) and the “fourth power” (Media). The Media under Pressure The
case of Moldosali Ibraimov is the latest in a substantial number of
cases involving the media. Zamira Sykova, editor-in-chief of the
opposition newspaper “Res Publika” was sentenced to imprisonment
twice –in June 1995 and in May 1997- for libel. "Res Publika"
had to suspend its publication last March after being fined for slander.
Last year, the main stream capital newspaper “Vechernyi Bishkek” was
attacked by the tax inspection, most probably backed by the Kyrgyz
authorities. The reason could be its anti-governmental stand in recent
years. There
were difficulties caused to private TV stations in southern Kyrghyzstan
(Pyramid -Osh, Keremet TV, Erkin Ala Too, Mezon TV, DDD TV) by the
governmental National Agency for Frequencies and Kyrghyz Teleradio
Corporation before the local elections to municipality councils. As
most of the private TV stations rent air time and broadcast on the
government owned frequencies, they were not given any air time during
pre-election and election period on grounds that their equipment did not
meet the standards set by authorities. All of them were allowed to
resume broadcasting after the elections were over. Station directors
believe that the reason of this refusal was because the government
wanted to give state controlled TV stations an opportunity to make more
money during the election campaign period (the most lucrative time for
media outlets to increase revenues). Osh TV, which was then in position
to broadcast during the whole period because it benefited from an
official license for its own channel (channel 5), now also faces
difficulties with the administration since the authorities are now
demanding to change its broadcasting frequency from VHF (Very high
frequency that covers Osh area) to UHF (ultra high frequency). The
latter not only would require special receivers from viewers to watch
Osh TV programming, but would also reach a smaller audience (see in this issue of CAMEL the article of Aleksei Sukhov about Osh TV). An appeal to the president
The
Osh based TV stations “Pyramid” and “Osh TV,” which have made a
field trip to Jalal-Abad on June 21st, have also aired their
news broadcast with perspectives on Moldosali Ibraimov’s case. The
news broadcasts covered meetings held with judges Kasymbekov and
Suleimanov, chief of staff of the Governor of Jalal-Abad, along with
interviews made with Jalal-Abad, Osh journalists and NGO representatives.
On June 23rd, Internews Network-Kyrghyzstan arrived in
Jalal-Abad where they had meetings with involved people and NGOs. OMRC
and Internews-Kyrghyzstan have decided to coordinate their efforts to
protect the journalist. On June 23rd, OMRC with the
assistance of Internews-Kyrghyzstan lawyer has drafted an appeal to
President Askar Akaev with the request to free the journalist. The
appeal was distributed through Central Asian Media Support Project’s
discussion’s list and other relevant lists throughout the region and
the world. Simultaneously, OMRC has launched a signature collection
campaign in Osh and Jalal-Abad to support the journalist. A campaign under influence Moldosali Ibraimov’s case might be the start of even more difficult time for journalists in Kyrgyzstan. Another journalist, editor-in-chief of the Osh province based TV station Mezon -Khakimjon Khusanov- who is accused of inciting interethnic hostilities by the Osh prosecutor’s office is awaiting the final verdict of his case to be made by Osh city court. The main evidence used by the accusation is the video broadcast that is believed to contain incitement of interethnic hostilities. It was produced by Khakimjon (with the assistance of four actors of Osh Uzbek Drama Theatre) in January 2000 to assist the elections campaign of the ethnic Uzbek candidate to parliament Davron Sobirov. For many local and international observers there is no doubt that most of these court cases involving journalists and media outlets are closely connected with the heated period of recent elections in Kyrghyzstan. Some Osh based journalists believe that these hearings are initiated by judges who are loyal to the present Kyrghyz government authorities with the goal of controlling the media during upcoming presidential elections. The judges Suleimanov and Kysymbekov have told journalists on June 21st that the court verdict was made in accordance with the law, and that a similar decision would have been applied to any other Kyrghyz citizen had he violated the law. In addition, the judge Kasymbekov recommended journalists to “read the laws more carefully” before they made “big fuss” about such cases.
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