Kyrgyz freelance journalist Almazbek Tashiyev’s died in a hospital in the southern city of Osh on July 12 from the injuries he received when he was allegedly beaten up eight days earlier in the nearby town of Nookat by a police officer for unclear reasons. The authorities are investigating.
Tashiyev, who was still conscious when admitted to hospital, said he was beaten up by about 10 policemen in Jany-Bazar, a neighbourhood of Nookat. This claim was supported by relatives, including his brother, who said he witnessed the assault. Tashiyev was 32.
“We are shocked by Tashiyev’s death,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said, offering its condolences to his family and colleagues. “We hope the investigation will be independent and that it will establish the still unclear circumstances of the attack on Tashiyev on 4 July. His murder must not go unpunished. His assailants must be punished.”
It said, “A police officer has admitted to assaulting Tashiyev, contradicting the claims of Tashiyev’s relatives that he was beaten up by a group of policemen. Although the interior ministry says the assault was not related to the fact that he was journalist, we urge investigators not to rule out this possibility.”
Asker Sakybayeva, the editor of the Bishkek-based opposition weekly Agym, for which he often wrote, told RSF, “He was moderately critical of the Kyrgyz government and above all wrote about social problems affecting Bishkek (…) He had become less critical of the Kyrgyz government over the past six years.”
The deterioration in the climate for the media in recent years has gained pace in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for July 23. Six journalists have been physically attacked since the start of the year. Tashiyev was the second journalist to be killed in Kyrgyzstan since 2007.
Kyrgyzstan was ranked 111th out of 173 countries in the 2008 RSF press freedom index.
