Court lists human rights media outlets’ publications and journalists as extremist

On 27 October 2025, the Oktyabr’ District Court of the City of Bishkek listed several publications of human rights media outlets Kloop Media, Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dece as extremist materials. The Court also listed the activities of the human rights defenders and journalists Bolot Temirov and Rinat Tukhvatshin, founders of the media outlets, as extremist and effectively banned their internet activities. The authorities in Kyrgyzstan had also made an unsuccessful attempt to place Rinat Tukhvatshin on Interpol’s Red Notice list. Kloop Media and Temirov Live are planning to appeal this decision.

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Kloop Media (Kloop) is a human rights-focused media outlet in Kyrgyzstan. Founded in 2007, it gained recognition in 2010 for its prompt and transparent coverage of the April 2010 revolution in Kyrgyzstan. Kloop Media has used investigative journalism to document human rights violations, focusing on issues such as corruption, armed conflicts, and abuses in various contexts. Rinat Tukhvathsin is a human rights defender, journalist, and a founder of Kloop Media.

Temirov Live is a YouTube-based investigative media outlet that investigates and reports on the corruption of state and non-state actors in Kyrgyzstan. It was founded in 2020 by Bolot Temirov, a human rights defender and journalist focused on corruption investigations. Ayt Ayt Dese is a YouTube-based project which aims at popularising human rights issues by performing and publishing folk songs on human rights topics. Among others, Ayt Ayt Dese has covered the corruption investigations of Temirov Live in its songs.

In the motion submitted to the Court, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Oktyabr’ District of the City of Bishkek requested that the human rights media outlets, Kloop Media, Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dese, as well as their leaders, be listed as extremist. The media outlets and their leadership were not notified about the process or the court hearing, and found out about the decision through the publications of pro-governmental bloggers, who posted about the decision online. From the text of the Court’s decision, it is unclear when the Prosecutor’s Office submitted the motion for consideration.

Similarly to the decision from the previous Kloop trial in 2024, the Court’s decision cited a number of psychological and psychiatric reviews of unidentified articles authored by Kloop, Temirov Live, and Ayt Ayt Dece. This included a report from the Service of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice, which suggested that “the reviewed data contains signs of linguistic extremist activities […] directed at discreditation of the ruling party and the State.” The Republican Centre of Psychiatry and Narcology of the Ministry of Health in their expert review reported that publications by the media outlets Kloop, Temirov Live, and Ayt Ayt Dece “can be seen as psychological terrorism” as the articles written by human rights defenders, Bolot Temirov and Rinat Tukhvatshin, are allegedly directed at overthrowing the current government.

The authorities in Kyrgyzstan had also made an attempt to issue an international warrant for human rights defender, Rinat Tukhvatshin. Interpol’s spokesperson confirmed that Kyrgyzstan had asked Interpol to issue a so-called Red Notice and that they had denied this request, insisting the Interpol constitution prevents the system from being misused for political purposes. The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that at least in one country’s system, the notice was visible with a “pending review” status.

Human rights media outlets, Kloop media, Temirov Live, and Ayt Ayt Dece, as well as their leadership, have faced unprecedented levels of harassment in recent years. In 2024, the same Court ruled to shut down Kloop Media, blocking access to their website. In the same year, the Leninskiy District Court sentenced human rights defender, Akyn Azamat Ishembekov, and woman human rights defender and journalist, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, to five and six years of imprisonment respectively for their investigative journalism published by Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dece. In 2022, Bolot Temirov, the founder of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dece, faced systemic judicial harassment and was forcefully and unlawfuly deported from Kyrgyzstan to Russia. In an opinion piece co-authored by Bolot Temirov and Rinat Tukhvatshin in 2024, the human rights defenders and journalists wrote that they “watch from exile as what was once seen as a bastion of democracy in Central Asia crumbles,” pointing out the exponentially growing repression against their media outlets, but also against fellow human rights journalists and civic activists.

Front Line Defenders condemns the classification of human rights media outlets, Kloop Media, Temirov Live, and Ayt Ayt Dece, as extremist content as well as the decision to list the activities of the human rights defenders and journalists, Bolot Temirov and Rinat Tukhvatshin, as extremist. Front Line Defenders believes that the media outlets are being systemically targeted for their peaceful and legitimate journalism and human rights work. The organisation remains concerned about the scope of the threats against human rights defenders and journalists in Kyrgyzstan, including repressive legislation related to the work of the media and NGOs.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to:

1. Immediately revert the decision of the Oktyabr’ District Court of the City of Bishkek that lists human rights media outlets Kloop Media, Temirov Live, and Ayt Ayt Dece and human rights defenders Bolot Temirov and Rinat Tukhvatshin as extremist;
2. Immediately and unconditionally cease the systemic harassment and targeting of human rights media outlets and journalists in Kyrgyzstan;
3. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan can carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions, in line with Kyrgyzstan’s international human rights obligations and commitments.