Front line Defenders on 27 March 2026 shared an update on human rights defender Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy:
On 23 March 2026, the Leninskii District Court of the City of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, ordered the release of a woman human rights defender Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy from prison. At the preliminary session of the retrial in her case, the Court changed the measure of restraint and granted her release from the penal colony where she had been detained. Her release is conditional upon an order not to leave the country. The retrial is scheduled to begin on 7 April 2026.
Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy is a woman human rights defender and journalist. She is the director of Temirov Live and Ayt Ayt Dece. Temirov Live is a YouTube-based media outlet that investigates and reports on corruption by state and non-state actors in Kyrgyzstan, founded in 2020 by Bolot Temirov, a prominent Kyrgyzstani human rights defender and journalist. Ayt Ayt Dese is a YouTube-based project aimed at popularising human rights issues through the performance and publication of folk songs on human rights topics. Among other topics, Ayt Ayt Dese has covered investigations by Temirov Live.
On 23 March 2026, Leninskii District Court of the city of Bishkek commenced the retrial of the case of Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy with a preliminary session. The retrial was set following a decision of the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan on 10 March 2026. Based on Opinion No. 52/2025 by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial and overturned the previous rulings that sentenced the woman human rights defender to six years in prison.
At the preliminary session, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy’s lawyers filed three motions. First, the defence attorneys requested the Court to declare the expert witness evidence from previous trials as inadmissible, arguing that authorities had pressured the expert witnesses into giving false testimonies. The issue of evidence tampering by the authorities was previously highlighted in the case of human rights defender and whistleblower Zhoomart Karabaiev, who was on trial for reporting that authorities pressured expert witnesses to provide statements supporting the prosecution. The second motion requested that the Court immediately and unconditionally ceases all judicial proceedings against Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy. The third motion sought a change in her measure of restraint, from detention in the penal colony to release under the condition that she remains in the country. While the Court denied the first two motions, it agreed to change the measure of restraint for Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, leading to her release later that day.
Upon her release, Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy expressed gratitude for the support she has received since the beginning of the prosecution against her in 2024. However, she also shared that she was subjected to psychological pressure and violence from the authorities in the penal colony, which aimed at exacerbating her isolation from the community supporting and defending her rights.
Front Line Defenders welcomes the Court’s decision to release Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy, who has been targeted solely for her peaceful and legitimate human rights work. The organisation continues to call upon the authorities in Kyrgyzstan to immediately and unconditionally cease all types of persecution targeting the woman human rights defender and drop all charges against her.
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/court-releases-makhabat-tazhibek-kyzy-ahead-retrial
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