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Feb 3 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
🚨 Kyrgyz authorities are threatening to block the website of our member center @Kloopkg if they don’t remove an article about the country’s conflict with Tajikistan. #PressFreedom

Thread 👇
occrp.org/en/daily/17287…
The article under scrutiny, which officials claim contains false information, is about the cost of reconstruction from last year’s border clashes with Tajikistan.

Kloop stands by their reporting and will not remove the article. Read it here (in Russian): kloop.kg/blog/2023/01/2…
The Kyrgyz gov't has already blocked the website of our partner @AzattykMedia after they refused to remove an article about the Tajik border conflict.

Kloop says they’re prepared to defend themselves in court if they end up facing the same fate.
occrp.org/en/daily/17260…
Our colleagues at @TemirovLive have arguably been targeted most harshly.

After reporting on the family of a powerful security official, the outlet’s founder was arrested on dubious drug charges and his staff manipulated by security agents.
occrp.org/en/investigati…
Kloop is an OCCRP member center that has been at the center of multiple award-winning investigations, including our #PlunderandPatronage series with @AzattykMedia, which won the @IRE_NICAR award.
occrp.org/en/plunder-and…
Kyrgyzstan, once considered an “island of freedom” in Central Asia, has been sliding into authoritarianism, especially when it comes to #PressFreedom.
occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/c…

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Feb 3
🇨🇾 NEW: Vladimir Putin scored a PR coup in 2016 when Cyprus’s parliament called for removing EU sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea.

Now, we reveal a Kremlin-linked group helped plan the resolution in an EU-wide campaign.
#KremlinConnection
occrp.org/en/investigati…
🇷🇺 Run by Russian parliamentary staffer Sargis Mirzakhanian, the International Agency for Current Policy arranged payments across Europe in order to push pro-Russian motions.

What happened in Cyprus is a striking example of its success. Image
In April 2016, Mirzakhanian emailed a draft resolution against the EU sanctions - and a plan to get it passed in Cyprus.

By June, he received another draft back, signed by the opposition AKEL party with only minor changes.

In July, the motion passed. (Docs available in story). Image
Read 5 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Feb 3
BREAKING: Leaked emails reveal that a Kremlin-linked lobbying group offered payments to several European politicians to promote pro-Russia policies.

Legitimizing the annexation of Crimea being chief among them.

Here’s what we found👇
#KremlinConnection

occrp.org/en/investigati…
The emails belong to Russian parliamentary staffer Sargis Mirzakhanian, who played a key role in the International Agency for Current Policy, which arranged payments to politicians in the EU parliament as well as in individual European countries.
In one email, Mirzakhanian referred to the money dedicated to influencing politicians from 🇮🇹 Italy and 🇦🇹Austria as the “price of the vote”after both politicians had tabled resolutions in their respective legislatures against Russian sanctions over Crimea.
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 23
‼️ The government of Kyrgyzstan is trying to ban the Kyrgyz-language service of @RFERL, @AzattykMedia 🇰🇬

It’s just the latest move against the country’s independent media, and underscores concerns that the country’s democracy is floundering.

Thread 👇
occrp.org/en/daily/17260…
“Kyrgyzstan is a small country with a small media community. Azattyk is one of the only publications that could afford to have correspondents not only in the capital, Bishkek, but also in the rural regions,” wrote our editor @arykbaevKG.
occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/c…
Here’s an explainer by our Kyrgyz partner @kloopnews, about how Kyrgyzstan’s new government is attacking transparency and press freedom.

Once known as an “island of freedom” in Central Asia, the country is quickly losing that distinction.
occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/c…
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 23
🇦🇿 NEW: The family that ruled Nakhchivan — aka “Azerbaijan’s North Korea” — appears to have secretly controlled lucrative assets in Georgia by hiding behind a frontman.

Our investigation with @ifactgeorgia 🇬🇪
occrp.org/en/investigati…
2. What is Nakhchivan?

The autonomous republic of Azerbaijan is known for its secrecy and repression — all of which was overseen by Vasif Talibov for decades until one month ago, when he resigned amid a political crackdown by the central government.

📷: Ilya Buyanovsky
3. Today, we reveal new evidence that the Talibov family was likely behind a corporate group that owns a property empire in Georgia worth $270 million.

This group has also received a series of state contracts in Nakhchivan.
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Dec 12, 2022
NEW: With just 18,000 people, the tiny Pacific nation of Palau has become a key hotspot for rivalry between China and the West.

Businesspeople, some with links to triads and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are part of China’s influence efforts.
occrp.org/en/investigati…
2. This loose network of businesspeople includes “Broken Tooth” Wan Kuok Koi, a senior triad figure previously imprisoned in Macau. Some figures have been helped in the country by prominent Palauans including two former presidents, Tommy Remengesau Jr. and Johnson Toribiong.
3. Palauan law enforcement have in recent years busted illegal online gambling operations employing hundreds of people. Other businesses planned for the country include a real-world casino, a blockchain-based insurance scheme, and a special economic zone.
Read 8 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Dec 12, 2022
NEW: A leaked list of members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government group, includes 300+ people who identified themselves as current or former employees of the US Dept of Homeland Security and affiliated agencies.

Our story w/ @POGOwatchdog 1/ occrp.org/en/investigati…
2. Who are the Oath Keepers?

The self-styled defenders of the constitution gained notoriety when they began showing up, heavily armed, to protests and other politically charged situations. Its leader faces years in prison for crimes tied to the January 6 assault on the Capitol.
3. From the leaked internal roster, reporters were able to reach out to over a dozen people who self-identified as being employed by the federal gov’t when they signed up with the Oath Keepers, often before the group was nationally known.
Read 5 tweets

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