The Bishkek District Court of the capital of Kyrgyzstan has issued a ruling on one of the most controversial cases in the independent information space. On Wednesday, September 17, the court sentenced former operators of the online publication "Kloop," Alexander Alexandrov and Joomart Duulatov, to five years in prison. At the same time, two more accountants whose names were not disclosed were sentenced to three years of probation. All of them were found guilty of inciting mass riots.
The indictment states that the defendants participated in the distribution and placement of materials prepared jointly with Bolot Temirov, the founder of the YouTube channel Temirov Live, who is engaged in critical and investigative journalism. The prosecution accused them of "spreading false information, groundless criticism of the country's leadership, inciting mass riots, and calling for the seizure of power by force."
However, Kloop categorically denied these claims on its official Telegram channel. According to the publication, the videos under discussion were not published on the website, and neither operators nor accountants participated in it. One of the state experts in the trial, Taalaybek Abduqo'zoyev, also confirmed the impossibility of identifying the original authors of the videos.
This verdict sparked major debates on issues of local journalism and freedom of speech. This decision is being criticized by the public, as it is noted that some of the defendants are not involved in the process at all. Currently, work-related disputes and their consequences are raising a number of questions in society and causing public discussion.
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