A man holding a sign that says “For freedom of expression” at a protest in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek. Photo by Kloop. Fair use.

This article was written by Olga Loginova for Vlast.kz and published on August 7, 2025. An edited version of the article is published on Global Voices under a media partnership agreement. 

On August 7, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed a media law that expands state control over independent outlets, Reuters reported.

The new law requires all media outlets, including online platforms, to register with government agencies. Additionally, the law limits foreign ownership to 35 percent.

According to Kloop, an independent media outlet in the country, the requirement for mandatory registration was added to the law last minute. Kloop wrote in a statement.

Before this, the parliament was debating over a ‘compromise’ version of the law, developed for several years together with the media community and lawyers. In the earlier version, media registration was voluntary.

Now, the procedure for registration, re-registration, and refusal to register media will be established by the Cabinet of Ministers in a separate provision.

“That is, it is the government that will decide which media outlets will operate and which will not,” Kloop explained.

The draft media law has been in the works since 2022 and has been criticized by journalists, civil society, and human rights organizations from the outset.

Since Japarov came to power in late 2020, pressure on independent media in Kyrgyzstan has increased sharply.

In January 2024, the National Security Committee (GKNB) conducted a search of the office of the well-known online publication 24.kg, and the editor-in-chief and CEO were taken into custody and interrogated on charges of “war propaganda” in connection with their coverage of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Two months after the search and interrogation, the media outlet changed hands and was registered with a new founder and director, completing the takeover.

In parallel to 24.kg, the police searched the office of the publication Temirov Live, which is owned by blogger and investigative journalist Bolot Temirov. Eleven journalists who worked for the publication, as well as Temirov’s wife, Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, were detained.

In October 2024, four out of 11 were found guilty of “calling for mass unrest.” Two received custodial sentences, including Tajibek Kyzy, who was sentenced to six years in prison. The other two journalists received three-year-long probationary sentences.

Here is a YouTube video about the court case involving Temirov Live journalists.

In May of this year, searches and detentions of former and current employees of the publication Kloop took place. On August 5, a trial began in Bishkek against former Kloop videographers Alexander Alexandrov and Zhoomart Duulatov, as well as two accountants of the editorial office. They are accused of “calling for mass unrest.”

Japarov also recently approved penalties for spreading “false information,” imposing fines of KGS 65,000 (USD 740) on media outlets and KGS 20,000 (USD 229) on individuals. Rights groups have warned that the measures violate international free speech standards.

As a result of these and other developments that have increased pressure on independent media, Kyrgyzstan’s ranking has plummeted from 82 in 2020 to 144 in 2025, a remarkable fall in such a short time.