On June 13, the Editor-in-Chief of “Moya stolitsa” Aleksandr Kim publicly announced the closure of the newspaper due to bankruptcy. Earlier on May 22, the Pervomay Rayon Court in Bishkek had ordered an arrest of all copies of one of the editions, including the newspaper’s bank deposits and property. “Moya stolitsa” was explained that it lost a court case filed by Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nikolay Tanaev, who claimed that one of the articles of the newspaper had defamed him. As a result “Moya stolitsa” was obliged to pay a big amount of fine. Moreover, the newspaper lost many court cases to other state authorities and governmental institutions.

In Kyrgyzstan, the tendency appears to be that whenever there is criticism of the government or high-ranking officials, newspaper gets sued under pretense of “defamation of one’s honor and dignity”, which eventually results in court battles, fines and even bankruptcy. On June 16 the Lenin Rayon Court in Bishkek ordered the independent newspaper “Obshestveni reiting” to pay Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov 50,000 soms ($1250) and two foreign ministry employees Tentishev and Saliev 25,000 soms ($625) each in damages because of an article posted on the Internet by the newspaper in February. The anonymously written article asserted that the foreign ministry is riddled with corruption and embezzlement, which the ministry viewed as a damage to its reputation and sued the publication. Thus in Kyrgyzstan suing for “moral damages” appears to have become an effective and the most frequently used tool or tactic to battle, silence or shut down independent and opposition newspapers.

As Aleksandr Kim notes in his interview to EurasiaNet, the amount of money “Moya stolitsa” owes for moral damages constitutes $95,000 whereas the monthly revenue of the publication is $15,000. During its two year existence the newspaper had to face 32 libel court cases and had to close several times due to lost court battles. Despite the fact that during two years of its existence “Moya stolitsa” existed for just 14 months and published only 14 issues, it became one of the most popular opposition newspapers. The newspaper published many articles on such serious issues sensitive for the government as corruption, money laundering and other economic crimes. As Aleksandr Kim claims, and as other observers point out, most of the lawsuits are the result of such sharp articles and critical publications towards the authorities.

The closure of “Moya stolitsa” has sparked an outcry in the international community. A number of international organizations such as Freedom House, Internews Network, the International Helsinki Federation of Human Rights, World Editors Forum, World Association of Newspapers, the OSCE, and the EU have expressed concern over the closing of “Moya stolitsa”. For instance, Freedom House Executive Director Jennifer Windsor, who recently visited Kyrgyzstan, said that the situation with the independent media is worrying, and that “the government must impose a moratorium on civil lawsuits against journalists and media outlets and move immediately to initiate new legislation to guarantee a free and independent press”. In its press release, the Internews Network states that in Kyrgyzstan, the number of independent newspapers is steadily declining and many professionals cannot work effectively, which is “unacceptable in a society where the values of democracy, human rights and freedom of expression are promoted openly.”

The situation with the freedom of press in Kyrgyzstan has been ranked higher than in other Central Asian states, where independent and opposition media has been subject to open intimidation. However, the recent events, in particular the forced shutdown of “Moya stolitsa”, suggest that there is also pressure on freedom of press and speech in Kyrgyzstan. But this pressure is of an implicit character made through lawsuits, huge fines and forced bankruptcy. The declining pattern of freedom of press in Kyrgyzstan, which has always openly and widely praised democratic values and human rights principles, does not only harm the country’s image but it also appears as a troubling sign on the road to democratization.