Zhoomart Duulatov and Aleksandr Aleksandrov. Photo: Kloop video still
The Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek has issued a verdict in the criminal case against four former employees of Kloop — two video editors and two accountants. All were accused of activities “aimed at provoking discontent and organizing mass unrest.”
According to Kloop, video editors Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Zhoomart Duulatov each received five years in a general-regime penal colony. The two accountants, identified as N.O. and K.E., were sentenced to three years of probation.
The prosecution had requested eight years for the editors and six years for the accountants.
According to the court’s press service, all four were found guilty under Article 40 (“Perpetrator of a crime”) and Part 3 of Article 278 (“Calls for active disobedience to lawful demands of authorities and for mass unrest, as well as calls for violence against citizens”) of Kyrgyzstan’s Criminal Code.
The indictment stated that the prosecution was based on videos produced by investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, who was deported from Kyrgyzstan in fall 2022 and banned from entering the country for five years. Investigators alleged that former Kloop employees participated in preparing and distributing these videos. The indictment claimed the materials were “destructive,” contained “false information and unjustified criticism of the authorities,” and allegedly incited unrest.
Experts, however, found no direct calls for mass unrest in the materials, noting only the presence of Temirov’s channel slogan — “Freedom is not given, freedom is won” — which had no connection to Kloop.
The defendants pleaded not guilty. In court, they spoke of pressure from investigators and rejected earlier statements made without lawyers present.
Aleksandrov said the case included testimony falsely attributed to him, alleging that he shot and edited the disputed videos.
“But I didn’t do this. I was offered house arrest in exchange for such testimony… I had to slander myself,” he told the court.
Duulatov added:
“The first time I confessed, I admit it, I was very scared. It was my first time in a detention center. Investigators suggested I admit guilt, and then they would release me under house arrest. I confessed out of fear of ending up behind bars.”
The accountants said they had no role in producing investigative content, did not know Temirov, had never seen his work, and were not involved in publishing material on Kloop or Temirov Live, which was outside their professional duties.
The four were arrested on May 28. Two days later, the court ordered pretrial detention for Aleksandrov and Duulatov. Several others, mostly current or former Kloop staff, were also detained, later released without charges but placed under nondisclosure agreements.
Searches were carried out at the homes of Kloop journalists and staff, and about ten people were questioned at the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) before being released.
After the arrests began, presidential press secretary Daiyrbek Orunbekov claimed that the detained journalists were financed by Bolot Temirov. Temirov promptly denied this, calling it “a lie” and “an attempt to justify the arrests.”
The GKNB later stated that despite the liquidation of the Kloop Media public foundation, its representatives “continue to work.” Investigators claimed the journalists’ activities were aimed at “provoking public discontent in order to manipulate public opinion for the further organization of mass unrest.”
In July, a court froze the bank accounts of the four Kloop employees.
Kloop has faced years of government pressure. Its website was blocked in fall 2023, and in February 2024, a court liquidated the project’s legal entity, the Kloop Media public foundation.
