The Pervomaiskiy Court of Bishkek dismissed the complaint of Bolot Temirov and his lawyers to invalidate the decision of the prosecutor to refuse to initiate a criminal case against police officers who allowed the disclosure of investigation materials, illegally tapped his telephone conversations and distributed these materials.
The complaint prepared by Temirov’s lawyers alleges that law enforcement officials prepared and posted on the Internet a video with financial documents of New Media public foundation, which were on gadgets seized from Temirov Live’s office. At the same time, the policemen disseminated confidential information from Bolot Temirov’s telephone conversations with his wife.
Based on these facts, the investigative journalist wrote a statement to the Prosecutor’s Office, demanding to take action against law enforcement officers who violated the secrecy of the investigation and the secret of private life. However, the prosecutor, after conducting a pre-investigation check, which Temirov’s lawyers call superficial and ineffective, refused to open a criminal case.
The investigating judge, who considered the complaint of Bolot Temirov, studied the materials of the prosecutor’s case and, on their basis, decided to dismiss the journalist’s claim.
“Judges lack the gumption to become independent. They will bend and disgrace themselves further! In fact, the prosecutors themselves write that the data were on the computers, they appeared on the network. Not a single investigative action refutes the above. But they refuse to initiate a criminal case against the officers of the Main Department of Internal Affairs,” Bolot Temirov wrote after the trial on his Telegram channel.
The journalist’s lawyer, Bakyt Avtandil uulu, told ACCA that the decision of the Pervomaiskiy Court of Bishkek in this case would be appealed.
Bolot Temirov was detained on January 22, 2022. Then special forces soldiers burst into the office of his editorial office. When detaining Temirov, law enforcement officers allegedly took out a dark green substance from Temirov’s back pocket. According to eyewitnesses, the package was planted by the security forces themselves. The journalist passed all the tests; he didn’t have any traces of drugs.
All equipment was confiscated from Temirov Live’s office. The investigation team still hasn’t received their equipment back.
The Main Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek initiated a criminal case against Temirov on illegal production and possession of drugs. A few months later, he was suspected of illegally obtaining citizenship of Kyrgyzstan and illegally crossing the state border. Temirov and his team posted a video with violations of the detention procedure. Attacks on members of the team of Temirov Live continue to this day.
