Khirgiz Light

[Doug Millison]

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A new liability for libel
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After years of cracking down on independent journalism in Kyrgyzstan,
President Askar Akayev last week sent a draft law in support of the
media to parliament. 

Announced on 30th April by Presidential Press Secretary Ilyas Bekbolotov,
the draft law - if approved by the national parliament - would exclude
libel from the criminal code and stop all libel ongoing criminal cases
and transfer them to civil courts. 

It would also release individuals who were earlier charged and convicted
for libel and are still in custody.

Several journalists were either jailed or fined for libel from 1995 to
2000. 

Analysts see Mr Akayev's latest move as part of a government effort to
restore Kyrgyzstan's image as a Central Asian ''island of democracy.''

But many Kyrgyz journalists remain sceptical about the president's new
support for media since it comes amid numerous cases of official
harassment and while some other trials against independent media in
Kyrgyzstan are still pending.  

Source:
http://64.4.16.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=081586766bb26e985baba028bb615
123&lat=989306915&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2etol%2ecz%2fweek%2ehtml -
Transitions Online

from
EJC Media News Digest of 08 May 2001
Media News is archived at <http://www.ejc.nl/mn/searchnews.asp> and
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