CPJ, partners call on Kyrgyzstan to free journalist Tajibek kyzy

Ahead of a February 2 decision by Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court, the Committee to Protect Journalists and seven other human rights groups called on Kyrgyzstan authorities to comply with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s opinion and release journalist Tajibek kyzy without delay.

Director of anti-corruption investigative outlets Temirov Live and Ait Ait Dese, Tajibek kyzy was arrested in January 2024 and sentenced in October of that year to six years in prison on charges of calling for mass unrest.

On February 2, the Supreme Court will decide whether to consider reopening Tajibek kyzy’s case. The U.N. group has called for the government to immediately release Tajibek kyzy, grant her compensation, and investigate the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of her liberty.

Her exiled husband, Bolot Temirov, won CPJ’s 2025 International Press Freedom Award.

Read the full joint statement here.