Nazgul Matanayeva can't help crying when she thinks of what will become of her daughter Aike Beishekeyeva, a young Kyrgyz journalist, currently awaiting her trial in a detention center in the capital, Bishkek. "I told her it was dangerous work," Matanayeva said. "But she always calmed me down."
Journalists are becoming increasingly rare in Kyrgyzstan. On her 23rd birthday, on January 16, Beishekeyeva was arrested for "inciting mass unrest," along with 10 other journalists and activists. All are or have been employed by Temirov Live, a media outlet whose video investigations have shed light on the corruption among the ruling elites of the Central Asian country, from the president's son to the secret service chief. The detainees face years in prison if convicted.
According to observers, this wave of arrests is part of an intimidation campaign directed against journalist Bolot Temirov, who created the media outlet named after him. The 44-year-old has already paid dearly for his investigations and criticisms of the government. Over the past few years, he has been beaten, wiretapped by the secret service, stripped of his citizenship, and deported to Russia.
Now working from an undisclosed location in Europe, Temirov posts an endless stream of videos and messages on social media denouncing the impunity of the authorities and demanding that they release his colleagues. His wife has been warned that their 11-year-old son could be placed in an orphanage if she does not cooperate with the law.
"The authorities simply want to (...) burn everything around Temirov, so he has no team," said Leila Nazgul Seiitbek, a Kyrgyz human rights activist who lives in exile in Vienna. "It's about scaring off everyone who might want to support him or engage in similar activities."
To justify the recent wave of arrests, the Kyrgyz authorities have, to date, presented only one "piece of evidence": a video posted in December 2023 on Ait Ait Dese, a YouTube channel belonging to the Temirov galaxy, which allegedly contains "calls to mass unrest." In the video, the journalist's wife, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, angrily denounces corruption and the authorities who have been "sitting in their chairs for 30 years."
"She says in this video that all coups and revolutions are useless, because one clan will only replace another," said Temirov. "It's hard to describe this as a call to revolution." He pointed out that, except for his wife, "none of the others [detained] have any connection to this video. Not even the camera operator." Six of them are no longer even employed by Temirov Live.
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