“The history of Res Publica since 1992 has all sorts of events. We were tried, we were imprisoned, we were fined hundreds of thousands of soms, but the website, which has been functioning since 2000, has not yet been blocked,” the editor-in-chief of the publication Zamira Sydykova wrote on her social media page.
This became possible with the adoption of the law “On the protection of false information” on August 23, 2021. The authority for this was transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Information of Kyrgyzstan.
“With regard to us, the decision of the Ministry was made on June 15 this year at the request of Asan Toktosunov to remove unreliable information about him, published in two articles. It was a journalistic investigation that we conducted for two years about corruption at the Manas airport,” writes Sydykova.
In particular, the article dealt with Manas Management Company, which was founded in 1998. The goal of turn the Manas International Airport into the largest transit cargo airport in Central Asia. Manas Management did not achieve its goal: the Manas airport did not become the largest transit transport hub in Central Asia. But this company for many years became a monopolist in the production and supply of in-flight meals at the Manas airport. Taking advantage of the fact that airlines simply have nowhere to go, the permanent director since 2007, Asan Toktosunov, grew rich. Family, influential friends and patrons from the White House were involved in the business.
“We uncovered and painted the entire corruption scheme, including the strange relationship between the management of Manas Management and GATA: how money from state-owned enterprises flows into the pockets of intermediaries, how Turkish consumer goods are smuggled at the Manas airport, how fraudulent customs payments and VAT are carried out to the detriment of the state budget,” continued the editor-in-chief of the publication.
After the publications, Toktosunov was removed from work in April 2019. And then he decided to sue the newspaper Res Publica. And in 2021, the ex-president of Manas Management, Asan Toktosunov, was convicted by the Lenin Court of Bishkek under part 4 of article 43, part 1 of article 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic for complicity (aiding) in corruption.
As the prosecutor of the Leninsky district stated in the indictment, in April 2021, Asan Toktosunov was arrested in a case initiated by the State National Security Committee of the republic and immediately made a deal with the investigation, and also contributed $ 200,000 towards damages.
Apparently, the Ministry of Culture was not interested in this when they made a decision in favor of Toktosunov. As well as the fact that on September 1, 2021, the Collegium of the City Court ruled to partially satisfy Toktosunov’s claim, leaving some of the facts about the corrupt actions of the plaintiff recognized by the court.
“How then can the Ministry block access to this article completely? And the site in general? It is unlikely that anyone in the government will answer these questions. Sue? Who are the judges?” asks Zamira Sydykova.
