On 23 November 2022, the Bishkek City Court reviewed the appeal filed by the State Prosecutor against the decision to partially acquit human rights defender and journalist Bolot Temirov. The Court of Appeals upheld the decision of the Sverdlovsk District Court of Bishkek declaring that Bolot Temirov is guilty of document fraud and unprecedentedly ruled to deport human rights defender to Russia. Bolot Temirov was violently detained on site in the court room. At around 7:40 PM, Bolot Temirov was noticed in Manas International Airport accompanied by six law enforcement officers heading to the border control section

Bolot Temirov is a Kyrgyzstani human rights defender and prominent journalist, investigating corruption. In January 2020, the human rights defender founded the YouTube-based media outlet “Temirov Live”, that investigates and reports on corruption of state and non-state actors. In 2021, he was recognised by the U.S. State Department as an anti-corruption champion and was awarded the International Anti-Corruption Champions Award for his work to combat corruption in Kyrgyzstan.

On 23 November 2022, the Bishkek City Court reviewed the appeal filed by the State Prosecutor against the decision to partially acquit human rights defender and journalist Bolot Temirov and ruled to deport human rights defender to Russia. The Court ruled the Bolot Temirov is guilty of illegally obtaining his Kyrgystan passport and his military ID, and ruled in favour of human rights defender deportation to Russia, since Bolot Temirov also has Russian citizenship. The judge of the Court of Appeals unprecedentedly added a sanction to the decision of the First Instance Court in the form of deportation, despite the fact that the statue of limitation on this violation has passed.

Previously, the Sverdlovsk District Court of Bishkek found Bolot Temirov guilty of document fraud, but did not set up any punishment as the statute of limitation on the document fraud crime has expired. Bolot Temirov was violently detained in the court room and was raken away by a police vehicle. At the moment, human rights defender’s whereabouts are unknown even to his legal team.

On 22 September 2022, the Sverdlovsk District Court of Bishkek acquitted human rights defender and journalist Bolot Temirov from charges on drug posession and illegal border crossing. The human rights defender was charged with document fraud, however, due to the expiration of the statute of limitation on this crime, Bolot Temirov did not face any penalty. The State Prosecutor accused Bolot Temirov with two counts of documents fraud, one count of illegal border crossing and one count of drug possession and asked for 5 years of prison time.

On 20 January 2022, Bolot Temirov Live published a video investigating the alleged involvement of the family members of State Committee for National Security Head, Kamchybek Tashiev, in a corruption scheme relating to a state-owned petroleum refinery. On 22 January 2022, nine masked police officers raided for three hours the office of the YouTube-based outlet, Temirov Live, in Bishkek, without a warrant. During the raid, police officers confiscated all computers and forced male staff members to stay on the ground. According to Bolot Temirov, the officers planted a bag of drugs in his back pocket while pinning him down. Bolot Temirov was arrested without being given any reasons, and his lawyer was unable to meet him for several hours. While the human rights defender was detained, he underwent questioning and a urine test that resulted negative for drugs. According to Bolot Temirov, his arrest was in retaliation for an investigation where he denounced state corruption, which he published on Terminov Live in January 2022. The State Committee for National Security (CNS) officers confiscated Temirov Live’s security camera footage, showing the raid, including the planting of the drugs on the human rights defender.

In April 2022, Temirov Live published another investigation concerning Kamchybek Tashiev and their involvement in the corruption schemes with state tenders. On 17 May 2022, Bolot Temirov was stripped of his Kyrgyzstan citizenship by the Ministry of the Interior. Bolot Temirov’s passport was listed on the database of the National Registration Agency of the Kyrgyztan Republic Government as invalid, without any official court decision. The state launched new criminal cases against human rights defender concerining alledged document fraud and illegal border crossing.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned with the unprecedented decision of deport human rights defender and journalist Bolot Temirov to Russia. Front Line Defenders sees this judicial harrassment as a retaliation for Bolot Temirov’s human rights work as investigative journalist and as a part of the newly emerging pattern of targetting human rights defenders and journalists for their non-violent human rights work. Such targeting undermines access to free and independent press and limit the freedom of speech and expression in Kyrgyzstan. Front Line Defenders call upon the Kyrgyzstan authorities to fully acquit human rights defender Bolot Temirov.