Kyrgyz authorities deport investigative journalist Bolot Temirov to Moscow

On November 23, a Bishkek court ruled to deport Kyrgyzstan-born investigative journalist Bolot Temirov from the country. Temirov was forcibly flown to Moscow immediately after the ruling.

The unprecedented sentence was handed down at an appeals hearing in connection with charges filed in April that Temirov forged a military ID more than a decade ago and used it to cross the national border on two occasions. Earlier, in January, Temirov was arrested for possession of illegal drugs, which he says were planted by police. Both cases were opened shortly after Temirov released investigations into corruption by Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security head Kamchybek Tashiev on his YouTube channel, Temirov LIVE.

In September, a lower court found Temirov not guilty of the drug possession and border crossing charges, while also ruling that he was guilty of forging a military ID to obtain a Kyrgyzstani passport but could not be penalized due to the statute of limitations.

In his closing statement on Wednesday, Temirov said that the entire case was “ordered by the authorities.” After the hearing, he was forcibly removed from the court by law enforcement, after which his location was unknown even to his lawyers for more than three hours. Later that evening, however, he was seen being forcibly taken through the country’s main airport. His lawyers later reported that he had been deported to Moscow.

Temirov told journalists on Thursday that he was met at the airport by relatives of his who live in Moscow.

Also on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin flew to Bishkek to meet with Kyrgyzstani President Sadyr Japarov.

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