Kyrgyzstan: Journalist Attack Sparks Outcry

A violent incident in early November brings to eight the number of journalists attacked in Kyrgyzstan so far this year.

Early on November 2, Kubanych Joldoshev of the Osh Shamy ("Evening Osh") newspaper was brutally beaten by unknown assailants minutes after police pulled him from a taxi and told him to walk home alone. He suffered a concussion and was in stable condition in an Osh hospital on November 6.

In a separate incident on November 4, Seyitbek Murataliyev, editor of the independent periodical Zhylan (or Snake), which has published reports on organized crime and criticized police, was found dead in his Bishkek home, the AKIpress news agency reported. He had been stabbed 13 times. It was not immediately clear whether the incident had a link to Murataliyev's professional activities. Police contend that a female acquaintance killed him after he allegedly raped her.

The Public Association of Journalists, a Bishkek-based advocacy organization, denounced Joldoshev's beating and asserted law-enforcement authorities lack both the motivation and the means to investigate crimes against members of the media. "Beating up journalists is becoming routine in our country. At the same time, the punishment and identification of the guilty is rare," the organization said in a statement.

Days before his beating, Joldoshev and his boss published an article critical of the local authorities' handling of a student demonstration at Osh State University. "After the story was published, I was called and threatened," Turgunbai Aldakulov, Osh Shamy editor-in-chief, told EurasiaNet. "I believe that it was not for nothing that my colleague was beaten. It was a planned action in order to intimidate [us]. I have no doubt that the crime was committed because of the professional activity of the reporter."

"I don't think it was a robbery since they did not take the 1400 Kyrgyz soms [about US 32$] and cell-phone I was carrying," Joldoshev told EurasiaNet.

According to the Bishkek-based Media Commissioner Institute, an NGO, 58 Kyrgyz journalists have been attacked since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev came to power in 2005. Three have been killed. Six journalists have fled the country this year.