On 10 October 2024 Leninsky District Court in Bishkek convicted four employees of “Temirov Live” and “Ayt Ayt Dese”, two independent media projects that have investigated allegations of corruption in Kyrgyzstan. Makhabat Tazhibek-kyzy, the head of “Temirov Live”, was sentenced to six years in prison, journalist and akyn (poet) Azamat Ishenbekov was sentenced to five years in prison, while factchecker Aike Beishekeeva and investigative journalist Aktilek Kaparov were sentenced to three years of probation on trumped-up charges of “calls for active disobedience […] and for mass riots, as well as calls for violence against citizens”. Seven other defendants were acquitted.
