Bishkek Court Releases Journalist Makhabat Tajibek Kyzy to House Arrest, Declines to Drop Charges

Rights groups frame her case as a key test of Kyrgyzstan’s treatment of investigative media.

Overview

On March 23, the Leninskiy District Court in Bishkek rejected a motion to dismiss the case against Makhabat Tajibek kyzy but ordered her release from prison to house arrest after more than two years in custody.
She remains under a travel ban as the retrial proceeds, with the next hearing scheduled for April 7.
Earlier in March, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court overturned her 2024 conviction and sent the case back to a lower court, referencing a UN Working Group finding that her detention was arbitrary.
In October 2024, Tajibek kyzy was sentenced to six years for allegedly inciting mass unrest, and colleague Azamat Ishenbekov received five years before being pardoned in April 2025.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Amnesty International, and Freedom for Eurasia welcomed her release and urged authorities to drop all charges, citing a broader clampdown that includes Bolot Temirov’s 2022 deportation and 2025 “extremist” designations and distribution bans against Temirov Live and Kloop.