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President Askar Akaev Dear Mr. Akaev: The International League for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization based in New York with special consultative status with ECOSOC UN, is deeply concerned about the recent attack on the office of the Osh Mass Media Resource Center (ORC MM), an internationally funded non-governmental organization that promotes freedom of the press, media development, and educational and technical resources for journalists around the country. In the early morning hours of February 4, two masked men broke into the office, assaulted, and tied up the security guard on duty, Hosanbaj Hodzhamberdiev. After making verbal threats against journalists affiliated with the center, the attackers stole more than $5000 worth of computers, hard disks, processors, memory drives, CD-disk drives, a digital camera, and a multimedia projector. The computer laboratories provided public access to the Internet, and were used jointly by IREX, an educational and professional exchange program financed by the U.S. State Department. This incident underscores a larger trend of violence against independent journalists and threats to freedom of the press and expression in Kyrgyzstan. In September 2003, Ernest Nazalov, a correspondent investigating corruption among Kyrgyz officials, mysteriously died. In January 2003, Aleksandra Chernykh, a journalist working for the Moya Stolitsa--an independent newspaper driven to insolvency due to fines associated with unfair libel charges--was attacked by two unidentified assailants. According to an annual world press freedom ranking compiled by Reporters Without Borders, a free-press advocacy group, Kyrgyzstan ranks 104 out of 166 countries. In its Freedom of the Press 2003 survey, Freedom House ranked Kyrgyzstan's press level as "Not Free." The League urges your government to conduct a thorough investigation into the attack on the Osh Media Resource Center and to hold those responsible to justice. We also appeal to your government to uphold basic principles of freedom of expression and ensure that journalists can work freely and without fear of persecution. Thank you for your attention, we await your response. Sincerely, CC: |
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