Media blocking and Internet disconnection in Kyrgyzstan

In Kyrgyzstan, during a special operation to detain ex-president Almazbek Atambaev, the authorities blocked media covering events in the country. The first failure in the work of the media was noted by citizens who were following the situation.

On Wednesday, August 7, at about 18-00 Bishkek time in the village of Koy-Tash, in the residence of ex-president Almazbek Atambaev, the special operation began to detain him. At the moment when the special forces broke into the house, there were Atambaev’s fellow villagers, as well as representatives of various domestic media. Journalists in real time began to transmit information about what was happening, but an hour later, they began to complain about the lack of the Internet.

Social network users have linked the lack of the Internet to the fact that it was blocked by mobile operators. However, mobile companies have denied this information.

“Kyrgyzstan’s mobile operators “O!”, “MegaCom” and “Beeline” did not disconnect in the village of Koy-Tash, where ex-president Almazbek Atambaev was detained. The reasons for poor communication can be associated with a traffic load on the network,” the official answer of the mobile companies says.

But not everything can be explained by network load. Thus, 24.kg news agency reported malfunctions.

“Warning, there are temporary difficulties with the site. You can read the news on our social networks. A massive DDOS attack has been recorded on our site,” the publication said.

In addition, the two largest Internet providers, “Aknet” and “Megaline”, have confirmed the April TV channel, which did a direct transmission, has turned off broadcasting.

The closure of the channel was commented by the Director of the largest news agency, Asel Otorbaeva. “Someone may like the April channel or not, but shutting down the media, being carried away by a pyrrhic victory in a war with his sworn friend, is the beginning of the way to defeat. We must not allow officials to close the April. Otherwise, we will allow the authorities to strangle freedom of speech. The “April” was the first. Who will be next? The authorities begin to enjoy very quickly,” said Otorbaeva.