In 2024, the Kyrgyz government took steps to intimidate and silence journalists, media outlets, and government critics. The Supreme Court mandated closure of the country’s leading investigative media outlet and sentenced two journalists to prison terms and two to probation for their reporting. A Russian style “foreign representatives” law came into force in April, requiring NGOs receiving foreign funding to register under strict government oversight.

Media Freedom

Authorities continued to crack down on independent journalists and investigative media outlets through politically motivated detentions and criminal prosecutions.

In September, the Kyrgyz Supreme Court upheld a February order for liquidation of award-winning Kloop Media, alleging it failed to register as a media outlet and made “public calls for the violent seizure of power.”

In October, four of 11 current and former journalists associated with Temirov Live, an investigative outlet that exposes high-level corruption in government, were found guilty of calling for “disobedience” and riots, which, at time of writing, they have appealed. Two were sentenced to six and five years in prison, and two to probation. They were arrested in January 2024 following raids on their homes and confiscation of equipment in their office.

Repression of Civil Society

In April president Sadyr Japarov signed an abusive “foreign representatives” law that requires any nongovernmental organization receiving any amount of foreign funding engaging in vaguely defined “political activity” to join a registry of entities working in the interests of “foreign representatives.” Those that do not comply face suspension of activities, including banking operations, for up to six months. The law also grants the government significantly enhanced oversight powers, including to participate in the internal and external activities of registered organizations and to check their expenditures for consistency with the organization’s founding purpose. To date, only three nongovernmental organizations have registered, with some choosing to self-liquidate and others re-registering as commercial organizations.

The UN high commissioner for human rights expressed serious concern that the new law poses a ‘’serious threat to the work of numerous civil society organizations in the country, and, more broadly, violate[s] fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the right to take part in public affairs.’.

Another draft law regulating activities of all nongovernmental organizations initiated by the presidential administration in 2022 was still with a parliamentary working group at time of writing. The bill features highly restrictive provisions on registration and operations, further expanding government oversight of NGOs.

Freedom of Expression

Kyrgyz parliament is considering a draft mass media law, previous versions of which were criticized for seeking to significantly restrict the ability of media organizations to operate independently. In July, a working group consisting of members of the parliament, media experts, and lawyers presented a sixth iteration of the bill, which removed some problematic proposals from the draft law, such as a requirement that all news outlets and regular websites register as media outlets. The latest version also ensures that media outlets can be closed only by court order.

The Kyrgyz parliament is also considering a draft law that would create a new defamation offence; the proposed offence empowers the Ministry of Culture to impose fines of up to 200,000 Kyrgyz soms (US$2,000) for dissemination of “false or erroneous information” that harms the reputation of an individual via mass media, the internet, or social media. The ministry would have power to determine who should be fined, without needing judicial approval.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the state of freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan, including over prison sentences for Kyrgyz journalists for allegedly “calling for mass disorder,” describing the prosecutions as ‘“marred by due process and fair trial concerns.’’

Access to Justice

In June, more than 20 journalists, activists, human rights defenders, and opposition activists in the so-called Kempir-Abad case were acquitted by a district court, after a lengthy trial. The case is named after the dam at the center of a controversial demarcation deal with Uzbekistan. The defendants had faced charges of preparing to incite riots, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The public prosecutor's office appealed the verdict, and a new trial was ongoing at time of writing.

Gender-Based Violence

Throughout 2024, Kyrgyzstan witnessed numerous fatal cases of gender-based and domestic violence against women. In February, the body of 37-year-old Kenjegul Toktogulova was discovered in a landfill, with forensic evidence confirming she was murdered; her partner was arrested as a suspect. Another victim, 39-year-old Aijan Alykulova, was brutally killed in her Bishkek apartment in February, allegedly by her 34-year-old partner. Rahima Aikymbaeva, 34 years old, was stabbed 27 times by her husband in April. Aikyz Kalmurza kyzy, a 23-year-old woman who was deaf, was killed in January by her husband with their daughter present.

In August president Sadyr Japarov signed a new law amending several legislative acts to enhance protection against family, sexual, and gender-based violence. The amendments eliminate the possibility of reconciliation in cases of rape and sexual assault, increase penalties for battery, and remove eligibility for probation where a person has been convicted of sexual acts with children under 16, bride kidnapping, and forced marriage.

The government opened a “one window” support center in Bishkek that provides medical, psychological, and legal help to victims and survivors of domestic and gender-based violence in a single location.

Disability Rights

In September, the Kyrgyz parliament initiated legal amendments that would strengthen protections for persons with disabilities against sexual crimes. The proposed provisions include harsher penalties for offenses against the sexual inviolability and sexual freedom of persons with disabilities, eliminate the possibility of exemptions from imprisonment for those who commit sexual crimes against persons with disabilities, and extend protective measures to persons with disabilities regardless of their gender and age. Human Rights Watch, in December 2023, published a report documenting abuse, including rape, beatings, neglect, and humiliation of women and girls with disabilities, often perpetrated by those closest to them.

Freedom of Belief

In August, the Kyrgyz government proposed amendments to the law on freedom of religion that would prohibit construction of religious buildings on private property and create a state registry for religious entities and buildings, increasing state capacity to surveil and control religious groups. The law would require state approval for religious study abroad and mandate that religious education domestically be provided only by individuals with state-approved certification. The bill also aims to regulate the appearance and behavior of religious followers that may cause “ambivalence” among citizens.

In September, the Interior Ministry proposed amendments to the Criminal Code that would toughen sanctions for existing extremism-related offenses, including increasing prison terms for production and distribution of extremist materials as well as for calls for violent seizure of power, while eliminating the option of fines for the latter. The bill also seeks to reintroduce the crime of possession of extremist materials, which had been previously decriminalized due to its frequent misuse against non-violent individuals. This new offense would be punishable by up to 3 years in prison, even without intent to disseminate the materials. A new offense of public calls for extremist activity using the internet or mass media is also proposed, carrying a 3-5-year prison sentence.

Conflict at the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border

By September, 94 percent of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had been delineated, although the remaining 6 percent was reported to include the most difficult sections located around the Vorukh enclave and villages of Ak-Sai and Kok-Tash. The armed conflict of September 2022 that left 37 people dead, including 5 children, was concentrated in these exact locations. Both countries committed apparent war crimes in the 2022 conflict, leading to the deaths of civilians and the destruction of civilian property, including schools, according to a report by Human Rights Watch published in 2023.