{"id":15447,"date":"2019-01-15T12:04:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T09:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/?p=15447"},"modified":"2019-09-27T10:04:36","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T07:04:36","slug":"the-case-of-the-ban-of-human-rights-reports-and-organization-in-kyrgyzstan-new-court-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adcmemorial.org\/en\/news\/the-case-of-the-ban-of-human-rights-reports-and-organization-in-kyrgyzstan-new-court-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"The case of the ban of Human Rights reports and organization in Kyrgyzstan: new court hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press Release<\/h4>\n

On the Court Proceedings to be Held at Oktyabrsky District Court at 11:00am on January 16, 2019<\/h4>\n

The Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan invites all interested citizens, journalists, and experts monitoring strategic cases on finding human rights reports extremist to the court proceedings to be held at Oktyabrsky District Court at 11:00am on January 16, 2019. The court\u2019s address is 6 mkr, 27\/1, telephone 39 69 47.<\/p>\n

Background:<\/h4>\n

A January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek found two human rights reports extremist and \u201cinciteful of ethnic strife in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.\u201d The first report was prepared by ADC Memorial<\/a> and sent in conjunction with the Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The authorship of the second report\u2014\u201cA Chronicle of Violence: The events in the South of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 (Osh Region)\u201d<\/a>, written by the Human Rights Center Memorial, Freedom House, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee\u2014was mistakenly attributed to ADC Memorial, which had no connection whatsoever with this report. The decision \u201cbanned the publication, copying, storing, conveying, and distribution [of these reports] on electronic, audio, audiovisual, and paper media, including posting to the Internet.\u201d In addition, the court banned ADC Memorial from conducting activities in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n

Not one of the organizations that authored these reports was notified of the court decision. Instead, the list of extremist materials<\/a> was discovered by accident in March 2018 during a review of the official website of Kyrgyzstan\u2019s Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n

Initially, \u201cReport of ADC Memorial sent in conjunction with the Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan and the human rights organization Freedom House titled \u2018A Chronicle of Violence: The events in the South of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 (Osh Region)\u201d was listed under entry no. 26 in the subsection \u201cExtremist Materials.\u201d The list was later edited, and then both reports were listed under entry no. 4, but the authorship was still mistakenly attributed to ADC Memorial. In this way, distinguished human rights organizations and their analytical reports found their way onto the list, along with organizations like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State, which are recognized throughout the world as terrorist and\/or extremist organizations.<\/p>\n

The ban on ADC Memorial\u2019s reports and activities is not currently in effect, since Kyrgyzstan\u2019s Supreme Court cancelled<\/a> the decision issued by the Oktyabrsky District Court and sent the case for a new hearing.<\/p>\n

Several court sessions have already taken place at the Oktyabrsky District Court, and Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan filed a motion to join the authors of \u201cA Chronicle of Violence\u201d\u2014the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Freedom House, and the Human Rights Center Memorial\u2014to the case as third parties.<\/p>\n

On December 28, 2018, Judge A.B. Dzheenbekova decided at her own initiative to postpone the hearing of the case until 11:00 am on January 16, 2019, since the case files were stamped \u201cConfidential.\u201d The judge requested that the Chair of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek grant permission to hear the case or to transfer it to another court permitted to hear cases stamped \u201cConfidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should be noted that during their legal defense, these human rights organizations have faced opposition and refusals to provide information on the case. For example, a request to provide Bir Duino with the decision of the Oktyabrsky Court was sent to this court on March 20, 2018, but was refused on March 27, 2018 because this organization is not a party to the proceedings. That same day, Bir Duino sent a similar request to the Ministry of Justice, which had to be repeated on April 4 because it was met with silence. On March 30, 2018, the Ministry of Justice responded that it could only provide copies of documents in this case that were in its physical possession. On March 28, 2018, a request for the case files was sent to the Prosecutor General\u2019s Office of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan; during a telephone conversation, a worker at this office stated it had received a response from the State Committee for National Security stating that both documents were stamped \u201cConfidential,\u201d so the office could not provide copies of documents in the case. The January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky Court was finally obtained from the Ministry of Justice on May 15, 2018 (letter of the Ministry of Justice of May 15, 2018, ref. no. 07-3\/5953).<\/p>\n

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<\/h4>\n

For reference: list of court sessions in the case<\/h4>\n

In late May 2018, Bir Duino filed an appeal to the January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek. This appeal was rejected, so Bir Duino filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Under a ruling of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic of October 22, 2018 (in a panel consisting of presiding judge P. Zhumagulov and judges B.B. Batyraliev and D.E. Arstanbayev):<\/p>\n