A Kyrgyzstan court said Monday state prosecutors had urged it to close down Kloop, a mainly U.S.-funded media organization, for content allegedly discrediting the government of the Central Asian nation, a Russian ally.
“We have received a complaint from the Bishkek prosecutor for the shutting down of public foundation Kloop.Media,” a court spokesperson told AFP.
Kloop, which is mainly financed by U.S. NGOs, stands accused of having “undertaken activities beyond the framework foreseen by its charter,” the spokesman said.
The prosecutor’s office told AFP the matter was in the hands of the GKNB secret services in the latest case of apparent state pressure being exerted on media organizations, which rights groups have decried.
President Sadyr Japarov earlier this month criticized in an interview with state news agency Kabar “Kloop’s so-called journalists” who, he said, “only bring bad and no good to Kyrgyzstan,” warning that could not continue.
The state prosecutor alleged that Kloop articles sought “severely to criticize the policies of the current government,” that “a majority of them” were “purely negative” and furthermore designed “to discredit representatives of government and local bodies.”