Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek Seeks Freedom to Censor Foreign Broadcasts

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz language service will stay off the air unless Kyrgyz authorities are allowed to censor it, Melis Eshimkanov, the head of Kyrgyzstan's state-controlled radio and TV broadcaster has warned.

Eshimkanov told a team of RFERL negotiators Radio Azattyk's programs are "too negative and too critical" and had upset "powerful figures," the news agency 24.kg reported on December 16. "Unless we can hear the programs in advance, we cannot have them on the air," he stated. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

According to a news release from the US-funded broadcaster, Eshimkanov maintained "the problem [with Radio Azattyk] is the content."

The complaints about Radio Azattyk were aired following a weekend of harassment of opposition parties. The Bishkek offices of the People's Revolutionary Movement and the Green Party were raided on December 13. Party representatives say searches of their respective offices were conducted without warrants. On December 16, a representative of Prosecutor's Office maintained that the searches were conducted legally on orders received from the National Security Committee.

Separately, a series of rallies planned by the Muslim Union of Kyrgyzstan between December 16 and 24 have been called off. The Muslim Union's leader, former ombudsman Tursunbai Bakir uulu, said the authorities had failed to grant the organization permission of assembly, had personally threatened him with arrest and warned elite armed security officers would be deployed to thwart any attempt to congregate.