The criminal case against former employees of Kloop media outlet — two camera operators and two accountants — continues at the Pervomaisky District Court in Bishkek. The investigation accuses them of «inciting unrest.»
Defendants Zhoomart Duulatov and Alexander Alexandrov have retracted the confessions they previously gave during interrogations, claiming they were forced to testify against themselves without the presence of lawyers.
According to Alexandrov, the case files contain statements alleging that he filmed, edited, and spliced video materials mentioned in the case.
«But I did not do this. I was offered house arrest in exchange for such statements... I had to defame myself,» he told the court.
The accountants, who are also charged in the case, stated that they did not participate in the preparation of journalistic investigations.
Zhoomart Duulatov also denied his guilt. «The first time I confessed, honestly, I was very scared. It was my first time in a detention facility. The investigators suggested that if I admitted guilt, they would release me under house arrest with a travel ban,» he explained.
Former Kloop camera operators Alexander Alexandrov and Zhoomart Duulatov were detained at the end of May on suspicion of involvement in calls for mass unrest. The State Committee for National Security (SCNS) conducted searches of their homes and seized equipment. A court subsequently placed both under pre-trial detention.
At the same time, searches were conducted at the homes of former and current journalists and other staff members of the outlet. Around ten people were summoned for questioning at the SCNS and later released.
Additionally, a Kloop accountant was detained near a bank in the capital and taken to the SCNS. Previously, the outlet reported that an administrative employee had been detained following a search of premises where accounting documents were stored.
It was also reported earlier that the bank accounts of several Kloop employees were blocked by court order.
