Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev\'s press office denied on 31 May that Tanaev had made official statements about suing members of parliament over their criticism of his government and the country\'s law enforcement agencies, akipress.org reported on 2 June. The nongovernmental organization Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society had distributed a statement on 29 May asserting that Tanaev had told two government ministers that they should look into the possibility of suing individual parliamentarians if they had insulted the \"honor and dignity\" of the government in public statements. Tanaev\'s press office denied that the prime minister\'s remark was an official call for individual lawmakers to be sued for criticisms aired during a discussion of the state of law enforcement in the country. Presumably the NGO\'s statement was partially motivated by Tanaev\'s practice of suing publications and journalists that he claims have libeled him and obtaining huge court awards that are effectively restricting the activity of the independent media in Kyrgyzstan. (RFE/RL)