In Kyrgyzstan, journalists were pushed out of door for uncomfortable questions
The ex-speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, and now the leader of the party “United Kyrgyzstan”, Adakhan Madumarov, gathered journalists to a press conference. However, when they started asking uncomfortable questions, security guards brought journalists out.
After Madumarov’s small introduction about the shootout that occurred on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on September 16, as a result of which 4 people were killed and 25 were injured (data from both sides), journalists began to ask questions, one of which the politician did not like.
In particular, Adakhan Madumarov refused to answer the question “What was his role in transferring some lands to Tajikistan when he was secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan?” When the journalist of Next TV, Joodar Buzumov, began to insist that the politician answer the questions, the supporters of the politician tried to expel him from the cabinet. The journalist began to resist; there was a scuffle. Later, the security guards of Adakhan Madumarov brought out by force another journalist.
In protest, the rest of the media also left the press conference.
According to the correspondent of the Fifth Channel, Syrgak Baktiyarov, who was also taken out into the corridor, the former speaker of the Parliament did not want to answer the questions about cross-border conflicts.
“He just started reading us morality and humiliating us. He would just have to politely say “I do not want to answer these questions. Instead, he accused us of venality,” the journalist says.
ACCA asked the Head of the Independent Union of journalists of Kyrgyzstan Azamat Kasybekov to comment on the incident.
“We condemn such attitude towards journalists. It is not clear why to invite the press, if then they do not want to answer their questions. After the video from the press conference appeared on social networks, people split divided into 2 parts: someone supported the journalists, someone on the contrary said that they themselves provoked this situation. In my opinion, the questions were correct, they directly followed from the topic under discussion. The fact that the record shows that the correspondent insisted that Adakhan Madumarov answer the question, is also not a crime. Media representatives often have to insist and demand an answer, they do this not for themselves, but in order to later convey this information to the public. It’s their work,” Azamat Kasybekov commented on the situation.
The Head of the Independent Union of journalists emphasized that the supporters of the politician violated the Law “On the Protection of the professional journalist’s activities”.
