Hot News 2005

September 28

Kyrgyzstan is in an information isolation

Asiainfo and Elcat, two largest Internet service providers that share over 80% of Internet market in Kyrgyzstan, made statements, following the internet failure on September 28. In the statements, they said the failure is related to serious breakdown in satellite equipment in Germany.

As a result, customers of the Internet providing companies had no access to WWW.

According to the first statements issued, the breakdown should have been repaired within several hours. However later AKI-Press news agency posted information on its website saying the Internet providers anticipate the possibility that the repairing process would last till 18 October, 2005.

At present, people in Kyrgyzstan have no opportunity to message through the Internet and IP-phone.

Some public activists suggest that the reasons for the disconnection are completely different. “The reason for traffic blockage was a dying statement by the late Bayaman Erkinbayev, who had been shot dead a few hours before outside his home, published in online publication gazeta.kz,” they believe.

The parliamentarian accused Usen Sydykov, head of the Presidential Administration, of his possible future death in the published article “I am not afraid of death – I said everything.”

Though the letter had been doubtfully written by Bayaman, it caused a huge public response. His friends and relatives argued he planned to disclose classified information on crimes committed by the new authorities.

Furthermore, recently the online publication posted materials, saying the Kyrgyzstan President has relations with Chornye Brothers. They were believed to sponsor 24 March Revolution, in return for hydro-energy sector, aluminum and gold deposits.

It came out as well that the National Security Service summoned owners of internet-forums.

Contents