H.E. Kurmanbek Bakiyev
President
Office of the President
Ulitsa Kirova, 205
Bishek 720003
Kyrgyz Republic
Fax: (011.7.3312) 21.86.27
Your Excellency:
Last November 14, the Overseas Press Club of America wrote to applaud your decision to direct the investigation into the murder of Alishev Saipov, the distinguished young journalist shot down and killed in Osh near the offices of Radio Free Europe, one of the news organizations that used his reports.
Since Saipov had been reporting on corruption and abuses on the part of Uzbek officials and had been threatened by Uzbek agents, the Uzbek connection seemed to offer a line of investigation worth following up. The first indications were that your government was indeed looking for an Uzbek connection. But it soon became apparent that the investigation was focusing more on what Shaipov might have done, including his possible dealings with a radical Islamic group and with drug traffickers. A journalist, of course, has every right to talk to all kinds of people.
Statements made later by officials of your government were confusing and contradictory. In February, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the investigation into Saipovâ??s death had been halted because two suspected individuals photographed near the scene of the murder could not be found. Now, the new Interior Minister, Moldomusa Kongantiyev, says the investigation was halted because the preliminary investigation had expired, but that it would be re-started. All of this makes us wonder how serious Kyrgyzâ??s authorities are about finding Saipovâ??s killers.
Our world is becoming a more and more dangerous place for journalists to practice their profession. That threatens the peopleâ??s right to know — a basic foundation of democracy. In the interest of making a stand for the rights of free people, the Overseas Press Club of America, which has been defending the rights of journalists around the world for almost seven decades, urges you to press the investigation of our colleagueâ??s murder firmly and impartially.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
Hon. Ednan Karabaev
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
720003 g. Bishkek
ul. Abdumomunova, 205
Kyrgyz Republic
Fax: (011.7.3312) 22.57.35
H.E. Zamira Sydykova
Ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic
1732 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
Ambassador Muktar Djumaliev
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations
866 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 486.5259
H.E. Marie L. Yovanovitch
U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyztan
Embassy of the United States of America
171 Prospect Mira
Bishkek 720016
Kyrgyztan
Fax: (011.996.312) 55.12.64