Kyrgyz parliament backs new state controls on media outlets

BISHKEK (Reuters) -Kyrgyzstan's parliament has approved a bill that tightens state controls over media outlets, in what critics say is a blow to press freedom in a country once seen as more open than other Central Asian nations.

Under the legislation, approved late on Wednesday, all news websites must register with a state-authorised body, while the government acquires the power to grant and revoke licences as it deems fit.

Legal experts and media watchdogs say the new framework could be used to muzzle independent and critical outlets.

A Kyrgyz rights group, the Media Policy Institute, said in a statement that the legislation would "significantly limit the ability of the media to operate", and it urged President Sadyr Japarov not to sign it into law.

Japarov, a nationalist who swept to power in a 2020 revolution and then cracked down on the opposition, has indicated he will sign the law.

Kyrgyzstan, once seen as a relative haven for press freedom in Central Asia, has witnessed a sharp decline in media independence in recent years amid arrests, legal pressure, and the closure of critical outlets.

(Reporting and writing Aigerim TurgunbaevaEditing by Felix Light and Gareth Jones)

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