Bolot Temirov, an investigative journalist and author of Temirov Live YouTube channel, received a letter from the Prosecutor’s Office of Bishkek informing him that his case had been transferred to the Sverdlovskiy District Court of Bishkek. He wrote about this on social networks.
According to the journalist, classified materials appeared in the case, which were not there before.
“Apparently, they want to make the court closed. They are afraid that it’s too obvious,” he believes.
Earlier, the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek announced the completion of the investigation, noting that 4 criminal cases against Bolot Temirov were combined into one proceeding, the materials were transferred to the judiciary and are currently being studied by the Prosecutor’s Office. These are criminal cases on suspicion of illegal possession of drugs, illegal receipt of a passport and military card, as well as illegal border crossing.
Chairman of the State Committee for National Security Kamchibek Tashiev, whose relatives are the characters in the investigations of Temirov Live, commented three weeks ago on the criminal cases against Temirov. He noted that criminal cases were initiated three or four months ago, and not after the publication of the investigation about his son.
“This is a criminal matter. Bolot Temirov, when he arrived in Kyrgyzstan, stole the military card of a person and pasted his photo. He changed his surname and received a Kyrgyz passport with this military card. He must answer according to the law,” Tashiev told reporters.
The head of the State Committee for National Security also said that he personally got acquainted with the criminal cases against Temirov. Tashiev added that in addition to Temirov, the officials who issued the journalist’s passport should also respond for these criminal cases.
“We cannot make allowances for journalists if they break the law, and leave them without punishment. This must not be allowed! Each person must be equally responsible before the law,” the head of the State Committee for National Security concluded.
Prior to this comment, the same position on criminal cases against Temirov was voiced in an interview by the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov.
“The case became resonant only because Bolot Temirov is a journalist. Do we have a law that says: “If you are a journalist, you can commit crimes and you will not be punished for it”? Why is he better than others? He will respond on an equal basis with others. The law is the same for everyone, from the president to ordinary citizens!” the head of state said.
Recently, Temirov Live channel posted another investigation related to the family of Tashiev. It says that the company “Tomas and Co”, owned by the brother of the head of the State Committee for National Security, Kazybek Tashiev, won tenders worth about 58 million KGS from 2016 to 2020.
After that, on May 11, Deputy Prime Minister Edil Baisalov also commented on the work of Bolot Temirov on the TV program “A hard day’s evening”.
“Mr. Temirov believes that he is Navalny. He believes that he has some kind of political career, because, you see, he is the most honest and pure here. He published an investigation, saying that the children of Tashiev began to win tenders for hundreds of thousands of KGS. As explained to me, they made a profit of 9,000 KGS,” he said.
Edil Baisalov stood up for Kamchibek Tashiev, noting that the head of the State Committee for National Security is a man who made himself.
“Kamchibek Tashiev is a man who started selling gasoline, almost standing by the road with a tank. Then he grew into a big businessman with a network of gas stations in Jalal-Abad region; literally self-made man. He made himself. He became a real entrepreneur, politician, statesman. He won these tenders. He traded gasoline back in Akayev’s times,” Baisalov said.
The deputy head of the Cabinet believes that there is a lot of manipulation and ballyhoo in Temirov’s investigation.
“This is an attempt to become Kyrgyz Navalny, which, in principle, he doesn’t succeed. Bolot himself is a guy with a tarnished reputation. In the eyes of the state, he is a Russian citizen. He is a foreigner engaged in targeted destabilization. We have already dealt with some foreign citizens who carried out subversive work here. What is excusable for our citizens is unforgivable for foreigners,” he concluded.
On his page in Twitter, Bolot Temirov denied accusations that he doesn’t have Kyrgyz citizenship.
“My dialogue on the street:
– Bolot, is there any truth in their accusations?
– According to all the laws of 1990, 1993, 2007, I am a citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic. I have never renounced citizenship and never lost citizenship. Even when I received Russian citizenship.
– There are millions of such people!
– I’m talking about the same thing,” the investigator wrote on his Facebook page.
It should be noted that the International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR), the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR) and Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) criticized the wave of criminal charges brought against journalist Bolot Temirov.
International organizations believe that the accusations constitute a serious infringement on freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan and were brought up in obvious vengeance for Temirov’s investigations into high-level corruption.
