Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor-General’s Office interrogated two independent journalists today in Tashkent, RFE/RL’s Uzbek Service reports.

The prosecutor’s office «invited» several journalists who have worked or currently work for foreign media outlets to come for meetings, including Basil Markov, Sid Yanishev, Marina Kozlova, and former RFE/RL correspondent Khusnitdin Kutbitdinov.

Yanishev and Kutbitdinov held their meetings today. Markov and Kozlova have said they will refuse to attend such a meeting unless they are ordered to do so.

Yanishev told RFE/RL that Bahram Nurmatov, the assistant to Tashkent’s prosecutor-general, told him the interrogation was initiated after National Security Service and Foreign Ministry files on Yanishev’s activities were sent to the prosecutor’s office.

Yanishev said he was shown his file and was interrogated about his activities. He said he was questioned about which international conferences he had attended, foreign payments he received, and any contact with foreign embassies.

Yanishev said he was asked to sign an explanatory note at the end of the questioning. He said that no charges were officially brought against him.

Kutbitdinov told RFE/RL that Nurmatov told him there were reports that he had provided «discrediting information» to foreign websites using pseudonyms. Kutbitdinov said told Nurmatov he was unfamiliar with the pseudonyms and did not write any of the information that was shown to him.

Galima Bukharbaeva, an independent Uzbek journalist and editor of uznews.net who lives in exile in Europe, told RFE/RL that the interrogation procedure at the prosecutor’s office is a typical practice used by the Uzbek government to intimidate journalists in Uzbekistan.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Uzbek_Prosecutors_Office_Interrogates_Independent_Journalists_/1923684.

A prominent voice of political dissent in Kyrgyzstan was silenced today when opposition journalist Gennady Pavlyuk died from injuries sustained when he fell from a high-rise building in Kazakhstan.

Investigators are treating his death as a murder.

Pavlyuk’s body was discovered outside an apartment block in Almaty on December 16 with multiple injuries, including a cracked skull and broken ribs. His feet and hands were bound behind his back with duct tape.

Pavlyuk worked for several newspapers in Kyrgyzstan, including as editor in chief of the Bishkek edition of the Russian weekly «Argumenty i fakty» and for the Russian «Komsomolskaya Pravda v Kirgizii.» Pavlyuk, an ethnic Russian, often wrote under his Kyrgyz penname, Ibragim Rustamek.

The 51-year-old never regained consciousness following the attack, remaining in a coma in an Almaty hospital until his death.

Attack On Press Freedom

Supporters have described Pavlyuk’s murder as an attack on press freedom and follows a spate of violent incidents against Kyrgyz journalists and civil society representatives this year.

His work as an opposition supporter and outspoken critic of the Kyrgyz government has led to speculation that his death was related to his work.
He was reportedly planning to launch an online publication called atameken.kg, the same name as the Kyrgyz opposition party Ata-Meken.

Ata-Meken leader Omurbek Tekebaev has reportedly said he held a meeting with Pavlyuk earlier this month and that the «plan to set up the publication was in place.»

However, Tekebaev insists that atameken.kg was going to be an independent, «patriotic» website, not an official party newspaper as some media have reported.

«I think this is a politically motivated crime,» he said on December 21. «It’s yet another attack in order to restrict freedom of speech in Kyrgyzstan.»

“During the past several months,» Tekebaev told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Pavlyuk «published several articles and interviews in which he criticized the current Kyrgyz authorities, explaining the real meaning of their newly initiated reforms.»

Lured Away?

Police are reportedly considering Pavlyuk’s «professional activities» among the possible motives for the crime, although it remains unclear what brought the journalist to Kazakhstan.
Tekebaev suggests that Pavlyuk «was possibly lured away to the neighboring country to eliminate him there.»

The Kyrgyz government has come under increased criticism following a number of attacks on journalists and political activists this year.

Ilim Karypbekov, chief spokesman for the Kyrgyz president’s secretariat, acknowledged the problem during an interview with RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service today.

«You are right. Recently, attacks on journalists, the use of force against them in the Kyrgyz Republic have increased,» Karypbekov said. «It’s a very sad thing, but if we look at [police actions], they are trying hard to investigate these cases. And even though we can’t say they are always successful, they are trying.»

The attack on Pavlyuk marked the third incident involving journalists working in Kyrgyzstan in December alone.

Aleksandr Evgrafov, a correspondent for Russia’s Rosbalt news agency in Bishkek, was beaten up in the Kyrgyz capital earlier this month.

Days later, an envelope carrying a threatening message and a shell from a Kalashnikov was sent to the “Osh Sami” newspaper in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh.

The parliament’s Social Democratic faction said on December 21 that at least 60 attacks on journalists have taken place in the country since 2006.

Independent journalists Alisher Saipov and Almaz Tashiev were murdered in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

At least six journalists have left the country over the past three years and sought political asylum abroad because they said they feared for their lives.

Farangis Najibullah (RFE/RL)

Источник: http://www.rferl.org/content/Violent_Death_Of_Kyrgyz_Journalist_Follows_A_Disturbing_Pattern/1910726

A rally was held in central Almaty today in support of jailed journalists in Kazakhstan, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

The event was held under the banner «Freedom to journalists convicted for their professional activities» and marked the first anniversary of the arrest of Ramazan Esergepov, editor of the weekly newspaper «Alma-Ata Info,» who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2009 for publishing classified documents.

Police monitored the event, which remained peaceful. It was organized by Esergepov’s wife, Raushan Esergepova, the Kazakh nongovernmental organization Journalists in Trouble, the political group Alga, the opposition National Social-Democratic Party, and the Azat (Freedom) party.

Activists released balloons with the names of jailed journalists, including Esergepov, «Vremya» newspaper correspondent Tohniyaz Kuchukov, writer Alpamys Bekturganov, and «Law and Justice» editor in chief Tokbergen Abiev.

Rozlana Taukina, the head of Journalists in Trouble, told RFE/RL that the action is aimed at reminding society about human rights violations in Kazakhstan.

Esergepov was found guilty in August of revealing state secrets after publishing some government documents.

Abiev was convicted for investigating judicial corruption.

Bekturganov was imprisoned after writing a critical article about West Kazakhstan region Governor Baktykozha Izmukhambetov.

Activists told RFE/RL they believe Kuchukov — who was sentenced to four years in prison for his role in a deadly traffic accident — was also convicted for his journalistic activities, because of his strict sentence.

Esergepova told RFE/RL that she had visited her husband in prison on New Year’s Eve. She said she hoped he would be released on parole soon, since he has served one-third of his sentence.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Kazakhs_Rally_In_Almaty_To_Support_Jailed_Journalists/1922549.html

The leading voice of Kyrgyzstan’s opposition has alleged government involvement in a recent journalist’s murder and claimed correspondence in the hands of investigators sheds light on the motive, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

Journalist Gennady Pavlyuk, 51, died on December 22 of injuries suffered six days earlier when he was thrown from a building in Almaty, in neighboring Kazakhstan, with his hands and feet bound.

The leader of Kyrgyz opposition Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, Omurbek Tekebaev, told RFE/RL that he gave Kazakh investigators e-mails between himself and Pavlyuk that help explain why the current Kyrgyz government wanted Pavlyuk dead.

Tekebaev said it is evident from the correspondence that Pavlyuk — who was working on the creation of a website and a newspaper for Ata-Meken — supported opposition parties and worked hard to change Kyrgyzstan’s political leadership.

Tekebaev said the messages reflect the slain journalist’s views of the Kyrgyz government along with his civic values and ideals, and added that the e-mails should be a source of pride to Pavlyuk’s family and friends.

Tekebaev said Pavlyuk had recently been forging the information and ideological policies of Ata-Meken.

He said those who allegedly ordered Pavlyuk’s death were motivated by the knowledge that it would be hard for the opposition to find anyone who could complete his projects.

Tekebaev said Pavlyuk’s death should be seen as a warning not only to Ata-Meken but also to all opposition activists, rights defenders, and independent journalists in Kyrgyzstan.

Pavlyuk was the founder of the «White Steamer» newspaper and website and had worked for the newspaper «Vecherny Bishkek» (Evening Bishkek) and the Russian weekly «Argumenty i fakty.»

Kazakh media quoted police sources in that country saying over the weekend that there were indications that Kyrgyz secret service officers may have been involved in Pavlyuk’s murder.

Kyrgyz intelligence officials countered that Kazakh media were disseminating lies.

The Kyrgyz opposition has called Pavlyuk’s death an attack on press freedom and alleged it was part of the government’s campaign to silence dissent.

The killing was sharply condemned by international human rights organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Reporters Without Borders.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Kyrgyz_Opposition_Leader_Claims_Government_Ordered_Journalists_Death/19

BISHKEK — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says it will provide the family of murdered Kyrgyz journalist Gennady Pavlyuk with an independent lawyer, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

The OSCE decision was made after Pavlyuk’s wife and Tolekan Ismailova, the head of the Kyrgyz rights organization Citizens Against Corruption, called on the OSCE and the Russian Embassy in Bishkek to help conduct an independent investigation into Pavlyuk’s death.

Pavlyuk, 51, died in a hospital on December 22, six days after he was thrown from a high building in Almaty with his hands and feet bound.

Kazakh media quoted Kazakh police sources over the weekend as saying there were indications that Kyrgyz secret service officers may have been involved in Pavlyuk’s murder.

But Kyrgyz secret service officials accused the Kazakh media of disseminating false information.

Pavlyuk, an ethnic Russian, was the founder of the «White Steamer» newspaper and website and had worked for the newspaper «Vecherny Bishkek» (Evening Bishkek) and the Russian weekly «Argumenty i fakty.»

http://www.rferl.org/content/OSCE_To_Provide_Lawyer_For_Family_Of_Slain_Kyrgyz_Journalist/1921610.ht