Hackers attacked some Kyrgyz media

Journalists and editors of the portals, who were attacked, connect this with the publication of materials about the wife of Raiymbek Matraimov.

Eight information sites reported a DDoS attack at once: Factcheck.kg, Kaktus.media, Economist.kg, Today.kg, Knews.kg, Kloop.kg, “Politclinica” and the portal of “Media Development Center”, it is not accessible to users until now.

The media suggested that the attack on the sites was related to the publication of the investigation of Factcheck.kg and Bellingcat, which described spending on luxury watches, branded bags and clothes of the wife of the former Customs officer Raiymbek Matraimov, Uulkan Turgunova. So, only those portals, on which this material was published, were attacked.

It is noted that the content of these media was partially unavailable only to Kyrgyz citizens; abroad, all of the above sites worked normally.

In the journalistic investigation, a parallel was drawn between the official income of Raiymbek Matraimov, according to his declarations, and the exorbitant expenses of his wife.

According to businessman Tilek Toktogaziev, these attacks on the media are the work of the Matraimov’s clan.

“This is all solved by money and technologies. I think that the Matraimovs paid hackers for DDoS attacks on the media,” Toktogaziev commented.

In the meantime, today, on December 18, in the central square “Motley Mountain” (“Ala-Too”), a peaceful meeting took place for freedom of speech and anti-corruption (#REакция 2.0). The participants demanded that the Kyrgyz authorities take measures against Raiymbek Matraimov, who became a defendant in a journalistic investigation about corruption in the Customs service of the Kyrgyz Republic and the withdrawal of $700 million from the country. In addition, people demanded the resignation of the prosecutor general, who, in their opinion, did not take measures against Matraimov.

Note that there were various ways to discredit this protest action. In particular, a few days before the peaceful rally, there was a deliberate release of information on social networks that a rally would not be held in defense of freedom of speech and against corruption, but it will be a gay parade.

15-20 people, representatives of the organization “Forty companions” also tried to hinder the rally. However, police officers managed to prevent clashes.