Kyrgyzstan: New criminal cases were initiated against journalist Bolot Temirov

Bolot Temirov, a well-known investigator in Kyrgyzstan, wrote on his Facebook page that he and his team are under pressure from the authorities because of their professional activities.

“In January, after an investigation into the business of the family of Tashiev, we got a show. They planted drugs on Bolot Nazarov and me. They did everything to destroy our business. They took away all the equipment, turned the office upside-down. They staged a persecution with nasty videos through fake accounts on social networks, but they didn’t crush us! We were able to get things going and continued to uncover corruption, kinship, etc. Yesterday we released an investigation about the children of the Tashievs and their first victories in government tenders. I inform you that the answer from them didn’t wait long. Today (on April 19), I was invited to the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and acquainted with three more criminal cases against me,” the journalist wrote.

According to Temirov, the third criminal case was opened on April 19 at 11 am. He connects these persecutions with the fact that he and his team shed light on the illegal deeds of those in power.

“Yesterday, it seems, they gave time to study the protocols on the initiation of three criminal cases. So that we can have time to make petitions. But this morning the investigator brought the summons. From 10:30 am I will be at the Central Internal Affairs Directorate for interrogation…” he said.

According to the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, criminal cases have been initiated against Bolot Temirov under the articles “Forgery of documents” and “Illegal crossing of the state border of the Kyrgyz Republic”. The reason for opening these cases was the fact that the investigative journalist, as it turned out, received a passport of a Russian citizen in 1996. Despite this, in 2002, allegedly hiding this fact, he received the passport of a citizen of Kyrgyzstan and a military card. Further, it was established that with all the available passports obtained on the basis of false documents, Bolot Temirov illegally crossed the state border more than 50 times.

Lawyers commented on the charges against Bolot.

“This is completely absurd. The investigation claims that Bolot used a false military card and a temporary certificate, which is issued when a passport is lost. But how can these documents be fake if they were issued by authorized state bodies?” Temirov’s defenders are quoted as saying.

According to lawyers, more absurd is that Bolot, according to the investigation, illegally crossed the state border over a period of 14 years, while the border service let him pass and put stamps in his passport.

“During this time, Bolot also manages to change his passport after its expiration, as well as work in the public service, where hiring is carried out after a thorough check. If, nevertheless, the documents were fake, then the charge should not be brought against Bolot, but against the officials who issued the fake documents. Moreover, Bolot cannot be the subject of these crimes, for the simple reason that he wasn’t an employee of the passport office, he wasn’t an employee of the military commissariat, which at one time issued him a “fake” military card and temporary certificate,” the lawyers said.

But most importantly, according to the defenders, the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in these criminal cases has long passed.

It’s worth adding that since January 2022, the investigation of the criminal case on charges of Temirov under the article “Illegal production of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their analogues without the purpose of sale” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic has been ongoing.