OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro expressed concern about the search at the office of uzsushi.com news agency.
«The search and sealing off of the premises of the uzsushi.com news outlet in Kyrgyzstan is deeply concerning. Such criminal investigations may have a chilling effect on the media freedom and reporting on important issues of public interest in the country,» Teresa Ribeiro stressed.
Employees of the State Committee for National Security came to the office of uzsushi.com news agency on January 16 at about 11 a.m. General Director Asel Otorbaeva, Editors-in-Chief Anton Lymar and Makhinur Niyazova were taken for interrogation.
Equipment and personal mobile phones of employees were confiscated.
The SCNS said that the search at uzsushi.com news agency was conducted as part of a criminal case under the article «Propaganda of War» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
