In memoriam: Alisher Saipov two years later
Kyrgyzstan, Politics and Society, UzbekistanNo Comment
Photo by Ferghana.ru.
Two years ago today, Alisher Saipov, a young independent journalist and adventurous editor, was killed in his hometown of Osh as he was walking down a street with an acquaintance. It was ordinary autumn night and Alisher was heading home from his office.
His former colleagues at the Ferghana.ru information agency, which was his main place of work, still feel an emptiness and pain impossible to describe. In today’s memorial at the Ferghana.ru site his good friend and editor-in-chief Daniil Kislov says,
Alisher was that unbending soldier of not just the abstract ‘freedom of speech’, but of practical journalism that asks direct (and most of the times unpleasant) questions…
Alisher was not indifferent. Unlike many of us, he wasn’t just mad with what happened around him, but he would grab his camera and notebook and go shed light on the issues many prominent journalists wouldn’t dare to.’
I’m not going to repeat over and over again that President Bakiev has failed to keep his promise to personally monitor the investigation into Alisher’s assassination. The simple reality is that Bakiev and Minister of the Interior Moldomusa Kangantiev didn’t really put any effort into the case. Yes, they found a killer and he is about to be sentenced, but I wonder if he is the real killer or whether Kyrgyz officials are just trying close the file and not to irritate powerful neighbors anymore?
Although I did not know him, like his friends who knew him for many years, I, too, feel lost and don’t know what to say. He was their colleague and my brother-in-arms. We cannot sleep with confidence that justice has been or ever will be served.
The only thing I and many people who believe in justice can say is that his brief life of only 26 years has been and will remain a bright example and inspiration for many and many generations of journalists, not only in Central Asia, but in the whole world. HUDO RAHMAT ETSIN!
Editor’s note: The neweurasia community expresses its collective condolences to Alisher Saipov’s family, friends, and all those who loved him. We would like to take this moment to highlight the existence of the Alisher Saipov Annual Award and the memorial desk in Washington D.C., dedicated to all those who died for their ideas. Finally, more pictures of Alisher Saipov can be found here.
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