BISHKEK -- The owner of the pro-opposition "Maidan.kz" newspaper in Kyrgyzstan has been arrested.
Interior Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Nurgazy Anarkulov was detained in Bishkek on May 30 in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a local citizen.
No further details about the case were given.
The chief editor of "Maidan.kz," Gulzada Turdalieva, has confirmed that Anarkulov was detained.
She said officials have not yet provided his relatives and colleagues with details about the reasons for his arrest.
According to Turdalieva, the newspaper has recently published several articles critical of President Almazbek Atambaev and other officials. But it was not immediately clear if there was any link between those pieces and Anarkulov's arrest.
Kyrgyzstan is generally considered by human rights groups to have freer media than other autocratic Central Asian countries.
Interior Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Nurgazy Anarkulov was detained in Bishkek on May 30 in connection with a lawsuit filed against him by a local citizen.
No further details about the case were given.
The chief editor of "Maidan.kz," Gulzada Turdalieva, has confirmed that Anarkulov was detained.
She said officials have not yet provided his relatives and colleagues with details about the reasons for his arrest.
According to Turdalieva, the newspaper has recently published several articles critical of President Almazbek Atambaev and other officials. But it was not immediately clear if there was any link between those pieces and Anarkulov's arrest.
Kyrgyzstan is generally considered by human rights groups to have freer media than other autocratic Central Asian countries.
