The other day, investigative journalist Bolot Temirov from Temirov Live project reported that a suspicious package was thrown at the house of his colleague Aktilek Kaparov.
According to Temirov, Kaparov’s father saw an unknown man doing something near his son’s fence.
“A stranger was asked what he was doing there. In response, he showed the keys he had found. Immediately a car came for him, and he drove away. As it turned out, he buried the package under the fence,” he said.
Temirov said that Aktilek Kaparov had already turned to the police to deal with the found package.
“Investigators arrived and took the package. They would figure out what it was,” the journalist said.
He connects the incident with an investigation that came out shortly before it.
A week before the incident, a video was put on Temirov’s channel. There were excerpts from video footage from CCTV cameras and operational footage of the moment when the investigator was detained in the editorial office, which took place on January 22. Then special officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to detain Temirov and his team, accusing them of illegal production and possession of drugs. Temirov stressed more than once that during his arrest, a dark green substance was planted in his pocket.
And as evidence, he posted a video from CCTV cameras in their office, combined with the records of the Main Department of Internal Affairs in Bishkek.
On the video, you can clearly hear the command to the operator to enter later than the main group of policemen. The search was not filmed for 1 minute and 2 seconds.
Further on the video, there are two unknown persons, one of whom, according to Temirov, planted drugs on the journalist, and the second supervised the arrest. Although, according to the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, an investigator manages all procedures.
Now the journalist is trying to identify the unknown and asks the public for help in this.
After the incident near Aktilek Kaparov’s house, the United Democratic Movement (UDM) made a statement in support of Temirov Live’s journalists. They said that the journalists are under unprecedented pressure from law enforcement agencies, mainly from the State Committee for National Security.
The UDM’s members believe that the entire punitive force of the state, combined with the dirty methods of falsifying evidence, illegal surveillance and wiretapping, denigration in the media and social networks, fell upon Bolot Temirov.
“We have all witnessed how the State Committee for National Security frankly, in the meanest bandit way, persecutes Bolot Temirov,” the UDM’s members noted.
The organization expressed admiration for Temirov’s steadfastness and fearlessness, who didn’t give up, didn’t cave in and continues to resist the rotten system, boldly exposing vile deeds and methods. The UDM suggest that the healthy forces of society stand up for Temirov, because in his person the right to freedom of speech and opinion will be protected.
It’s worth recalling that Bolot Temirov and his Temirov Live team are investigating corruption in the highest authorities of Kyrgyzstan.
At the end of January, employees of the Service for Combating Illicit Drug Traffic raided the project office. They burst into the office, telling everyone to lie down on the floor. Two policemen sat on the back of Bolot Temirov. Then he was lifted up and forced to empty his pockets. Among his belongings was a small plastic bag. Declaring that it contained marijuana, the policemen confiscated office computers and detained the journalist.
Temirov said that the drugs were planted on him. His urine and blood tests for drugs were negative. The next day, the journalist was released on his own recognizance against the backdrop of rallies in his support. Then a criminal case was opened against Temirov on suspicion of possession of drugs, and later the case was reclassified to the manufacture of drugs.
The office of Temirov Live was searched and Temirov was detained after the investigation into dubious schemes for the export of fuel oil produced by the state company “Kyrgyzneftegaz” [Kyrgyz oil&gas]. According to journalists, relatives of the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchibek Tashiev may be involved in these schemes.
In April, three more new criminal cases were brought against him: on the facts of illegally obtaining a passport and military ID, as well as illegally crossing the border. They became known after Temirov Live published an investigation about the son of the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchibek Tashiev, Tai-Muras. It said that Moka Group company, where Tai-Muras Tashiev is listed as the founder, began to win tenders for the supply of gasoline in Jalal-Abad region.
The journalist himself called all these criminal cases persecutions in response to the fact that Temirov Live’s team sheds light on the deeds of the authorities represented by the family of the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchibek Tashiev.
Earlier, the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) and Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) called on the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to drop charges against Temirov.
They believe that the criminal cases against the journalist are politically motivated and are clear revenge for investigations into corruption in the highest echelons of power.
