Kyrgyzstan: President has signed the scandalous law “on fakes”

President Sadyr Zhaparov has signed the controversial law of the deputy Gulshat Asylbaeva “On protection from doubtful (false) information”. This was reported by the press service of the head of state.

The message says that the Constitution guarantees the right of everyone to the protection of honor and dignity, and by the signed law, the state ensures the implementation of this right by establishing a reasonable legal framework.

“The document regulates the relationship between the person, who suffered from doubtful information, and the owner of the information resources, where this information was published. It also regulates their rights and obligations,” the press service explains.

The law establishes additional guarantees to protect everyone by means of a personal appeal to the owners of information resources from the dissemination of information in the Internet space that doesn’t correspond to reality.

According to the author, and the presidential administration agree with this, the proposed procedures will allow minimizing negative consequences, including reputational (image) losses, possible loss of work, material benefits.

Member of Parliament Dastan Bekeshev commented on the signing of the law from false information. He believes that the law won’t help solve the problem of factories of Internet trolls or fakes, but it’s dangerous for providers, mobile operators and Internet users who dare to say anything against the President, deputies, ministers, judges and everyone who has at least some power.

“There is a crisis in the country, and the government is ready to spend people’s money from the budget for the sake of protection from sharp tongues. However, this law won’t help the authorities. By closing pages on the Internet, blocking and punishing, they won’t make people love them. They can scare, but they won’t get respect. This will make people angrier. And if a person has nothing to eat, then no bloc will frighten him/her to talk about his/her hunger and hatred of power,” Bekeshev wrote on his Facebook page.

It’s worth noting that the Parliament adopted the bill “On protection from false and doubtful information”, initiated by Gulshat Asylbaeva, first at the meeting on July 28, and then again confirmed its decision on a re-vote on July 29.

The discussion and adoption of the document was accompanied by a flurry of criticism from journalists and the civil sector, both regarding the content of the bill and the violation of procedures.

For example, the Media Policy Institute has repeatedly stated that both in terms of content and adoption procedures, the draft law “On protection from false and doubtful information” contradicts international norms, the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic and the laws of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Lawyers explained their position as follows: the current civil legislation clearly regulates these relations, and any person has the right to protect his/her honor, dignity, business reputation in the courts.

“The draft law proposes to protect these rights by means of an administrative body, which, without a court decision, at the discretion of officials, will require providers to block this or that information. Taking into account that the plaintiffs in cases of protection of honor, dignity, business reputation are mainly representatives of the authorities, it’s obvious that this law is intended to become an instrument of censorship, allowing extrajudicially, by a quirk of officials, to prohibit information criticizing the authorities. This draft law contradicts the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, since according to part 2 of Article 10 of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, as amended by the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic (dated May 5, 2021, No. 59), censorship is not allowed in the Kyrgyz Republic. According to part 1 of Article 63 of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, the adoption of laws, which restrict freedom of speech, press and mass media, is prohibited,” the Media Policy Institute noted.

The human rights organization “Human Rights Watch” also called through the Kyrgyz media on President Sadyr Japarov to veto the controversial document.

HRW noted that the law allows the government to block certain types of information without a court order, in violation of the right to freedom of expression.

“The new law on false information poses a serious threat to freedom of expression and media freedom in Kyrgyzstan and will seriously undermine the country’s human rights reputation. This opens the way for state censorship and contradicts Kyrgyzstan’s national and international human rights obligations,” Siinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, told reporters.

Human rights defenders again show their deep concern that the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic has repeatedly exceeded its mandate to pass important laws that violate international human rights norms.