Freedom in the World 2004 - Kyrgyzstan

Political Rights: 6
Civil Liberties: 5
Status: Not Free
Population: 5,000,000
GNI/Capita: $280
Life Expectancy: 69
Religious Groups: Muslim (75 percent), Russian Orthodox (20 percent), other (5 percent)
Ethnic Groups: Kyrgyz (52 percent), Russian (18 percent), Uzbek (13 percent), Ukrainian (3 percent), other (14 percent)
Capital: Bishkek

Overview

President Askar Akayev's growing authoritarianism was demonstrated by the ratification of a controversial February 2003 constitutional referendum that further consolidated the president's already considerable powers. The referendum, which was portrayed as an effort to enhance the country's stability, came in the wake of deadly clashes between opposition supporters and police the previous year and growing political discontent, including calls for Akayev's resignation. On the international front, Kyrgyzstan continued to juggle its relations with Russia and the United States over strategic matters, while issues related to its border with Uzbekistan remained a source of tension during the year.

Populated by nomadic herders and ruled by tribal leaders for centuries, Kyrgyzstan was conquered by Russia in the mid-1800s and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1924. The country declared independence from the U.S.S.R. in August 1991. After Akayev, a respected physicist, was elected president in the country's first direct presidential vote two months later, he introduced multiparty elections and pursued economic reforms.

In the 1995 parliamentary elections, no single party won a clear majority, with a mix of governing officials, intellectuals, and clan leaders capturing most of the seats in the legislature. Later that year, Akayev was reelected president in early elections with more than 70 percent of the vote. In a February 1996 referendum, 94 percent of voters endorsed constitutional amendments that substantially increased the powers of the presidency.

Opposition parties, including the Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan (PDMK), El Bei-Bechora (The People's Party), and Ar-Namys (Dignity), were barred from competing in the February 2000 parliamentary elections over minor technicalities in rulings that were widely regarded as politically motivated. Ar-Namys chairman Feliks Kulov, who ran as an independent candidate, lost in the runoff by a suspiciously large margin despite having enjoyed a secure lead in the first round. According to official election results, the Communist Party received the largest percentage of votes, followed by the pro-government Union of Democratic Forces. International election observers, including representatives from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), noted serious irregularities such as attempts to bribe voters, violations in vote tabulations, and a state media bias in favor of pro-government parties.

The October 29, 2000 presidential poll was contested by six candidates, including the heavily favored incumbent, who received nearly 75 percent of the vote. Kulov, who was widely regarded as Akayev's main challenger, was denied registration as a candidate for refusing to take a mandatory Kyrgyz language exam, which he charged violated election laws and the constitution. As with the parliamentary elections, international monitors and opposition figures cited widespread irregularities, including the exclusion of candidates for political purposes, the stuffing of ballot boxes, and biased state media coverage.

For the second successive year, Islamic militants conducted armed incursions in August 2000 into the southern region of Kyrgyzstan. The rebels were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group seeking the violent overthrow of the secular government of Uzbekistan and its replacement with one based on Islamic law. After several months of battles between the rebels and Uzbek and Kyrgyz troops, the fighting ceased with the onset of winter, with many of the rebels fleeing back to their bases in neighboring Tajikistan.

Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Kyrgyzstan offered its support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, including the use of its air bases. For the cash-strapped Kyrgyz economy, U.S. troop deployments promised to be a valuable source of income. Meanwhile, human rights groups expressed concern that the government would use its increased cooperation with the United States to crack down further on sources of domestic dissent, including independent media outlets and opposition political groups.

Years of simmering frustrations in the economically depressed and politically marginalized south culminated in an unprecedented series of public protests in 2002. The demonstrations were sparked by the January arrest of parliament member Azimbek Beknazarov on abuse-of-power charges, although critics maintained that he had been detained because of his public criticism of a controversial 1999 border agreement ceding land to China. On March 17 and 18, a few days after his trial began, thousands of pro-Beknazarov demonstrators marched in the southern district of Aksy. In the first outbreak of deadly political violence since Kyrgyzstan's independence, several protestors were killed and more than a dozen were wounded when police fired into the crowd. In an apparent effort to quell the protests, the authorities released Beknazarov from prison the following day. However, on May 24, he was convicted of abuse of office, given a one-year suspended sentence, and stripped of his seat in parliament.

Thousands of Beknazarov supporters continued to hold rallies, demanding that the charges against him be dismissed and that those responsible for the killings in Aksy be punished. The demonstrators adopted additional demands, including Akayev's resignation and the overturning of a May 8 conviction of Kulov for embezzlement. Kulov was already serving a seven-year prison term, which he had received in January 2001, for abuse of power while national security minister in 1997 and 1998. Most analysts maintained that the cases against him were politically motivated and were intended to exclude him from further activities in politics.

The crisis eased somewhat after an appeals court annulled Beknazarov's sentence on June 28, allowing him to retain his seat in parliament. On December 28, four former regional prosecutors and police officials were sentenced to between two and three years in prison in connection with the Aksy shootings. However, critics charged that senior officials who had authorized the use of force had not been prosecuted and brought to justice.

In the wake of continued criticism of the government's handling of the Aksy crisis and calls for the president's resignation, Akayev called for a constitutional referendum on February 2, 2003 on redistributing power between the executive and legislative branches. Voters were asked to approve or reject an entire package of amendments to the constitution, and they were also asked whether Akayev should serve out the remainder of his term until December 2005. Opposition leaders criticized a decision to have an Akayev-appointed Expert Group make final changes in January to the amendments – which had been drafted by a Constitutional Council consisting of both pro-government and opposition supporters – before their submission for the referendum. The final text, which further strengthened the authority of the president at the expense of parliament, differed substantially from that presented by the Constitutional Council. Among the amendments included in the referendum were the abolition of party-list voting in parliamentary elections in favor of the first-past-the-post system, which could further weaken political parties; a reorganization of parliament from a bicameral to a unicameral body; and the granting of immunity to former presidents and their families.

According to official results, more than 76 percent voted in favor of the proposed amendments and 79 percent supported allowing Akayev to remain in office until the end of his term. Voter turnout was reported to be around 86 percent. Local and international observers noted various irregularities during the referendum, including polling officials' stuffing of ballot boxes and pressuring of voters to support the amendments, the hampering of independent observers monitoring the voting, and inflating of voter turnout figures. The OSCE declined to send observers, citing a lack of time to prepare an effective monitoring mission since the government had announced the referendum date only three weeks before it was held.

Kyrgyzstan continued to balance its strategic and economic relations with Russia and the United States throughout the year. In October, Russia formally established a military base in the town of Kant near Bishkek under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States Collective Security Treaty Organization. Although Kyrgyz and Russian officials insisted that the Russian and U.S. bases in Kyrgyzstan would serve complementary, rather than competing, strategic roles, the Kant air base is widely seen as an attempt by Moscow to counter the growing U.S. influence in Central Asia after September 11, 2001. Meanwhile, the economic benefits of a continued U.S. presence in the country are likely to lead Kyrgyzstan to maintain good relations with both Washington and Tashkent.

Kyrgyzstan's border with Uzbekistan continued to be a source of tension between the two countries throughout the year. Following the 1999 and 2000 IMU incursions into Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan placed land mines along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border to prevent renewed IMU invasions. Tashkent has refused repeated demands by Bishkek to remove the mines, which have killed a number of Kyrgyz civilians. Meanwhile, Uzbek border guards have indiscriminately shot ethnic Kyrgyz suspected of being terrorists.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Citizens of Kyrgyzstan cannot change their government democratically. International election observers described the 2000 parliamentary and presidential elections as neither free nor fair. The constitution codifies strong presidential rule and a weak parliament, and the post of prime minister is largely ceremonial. The current bicameral legislature is composed of a 45-member upper chamber, which meets only occasionally to approve the budget and confirm presidential appointees, and a 60-seat lower chamber. Constitutional amendments adopted in a February 2003 referendum will create a unicameral legislature with 75 deputies after the 2005 parliamentary poll; all seats will be distributed through a first-past-the-post system, rather than by party-list voting. Although the constitution limits the president to only two terms in office, President Askar Akayev was allowed to run in 2000 after the Constitutional Court ruled that his first term had begun in 1995, after the country's first post-Soviet constitution was adopted, rather than in 1991, when he was first elected. Despite public pledges by Akayev that he will step down at the end of his current term in 2005, speculation continues as to whether he intends to amend the constitution to run again or if he is working behind the scenes to control the succession process.

The government harassed some members of opposition political groups, including Ar-Namys party deputy chairman Emil Aliyev, who was arrested in July on embezzlement charges that are suspected of being politically motivated. In August, Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court upheld the 2002 guilty verdict against Ar-Namys party leader Feliks Kulov that had resulted from a politically motivated prosecution. Most political parties are weak, poorly organized, and centered around a specific leading figure.

Corruption is widespread throughout Kyrgyz society. Critics charge that the latest government anticorruption campaign, initiated in April 2003, is unlikely to focus on top-level officials who are government loyalists and will instead target mostly political opponents of the regime. Kyrgyzstan was ranked 118 out of 133 countries in Transparency International's 2003 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Both state and private media are vulnerable to government pressure, which causes many journalists to practice self-censorship. The new constitutional amendments adopted in February contain vague restrictions on journalists' rights to gather and distribute information. Many of the country's media outlets are reportedly increasingly owned or controlled by individuals with close ties to the government. All media are required to register with the Ministry of Justice and wait for formal approval before commencing operations; the registration process is often lengthy and includes background checks on owners and sources of financing. The state printing house, Uchkun, which is the country's primary newspaper publisher, has at times refused to print some independent and opposition newspapers. An internationally funded printing press established by Freedom House and operated by the nongovernmental Media Support Center Foundation was opened in November to allow independent papers to be published without fear of censorship or reprisals. There are no credible reports of government interference in or censorship of the Internet.

The authorities increasingly used libel laws in 2003 to harass media outlets reporting on sensitive issues or critical of the government. The newspaper Moya Stolitsa Novosti, which investigated high-level corruption, was forced to close in June because of nearly $100,000 in fines stemming from numerous politically motivated libel lawsuits; the paper was subsequently relaunched as MSN. Another newspaper, Kyrgyz Ordo, closed in January because of high court fines related to defamation suits against it. Acts of violence against journalists continued in 2003. In September, Kyrgyz Ruhu newspaper journalist Ernis Nazalov was found dead in a canal in the southern town of Osh. The fact that Nazalov was investigating government corruption at the time increased suspicion that his death was politically motivated. Moya Stolitsa Novosti journalist Alexandra Chernykh – the daughter of the paper's political editor Rina Prizhivoit – was assaulted by unidentified assailants in January, while the car of the paper's editor in chief, Alexander Kim, was set on fire in a separate incident.

Freedom of religion is generally respected. To obtain legal status, all religious organizations must register with the Ministry of Justice, a process that is often cumbersome. However, unregistered groups have not reported restrictions or problems in functioning. The government has increased efforts to monitor and restrict Islamic groups that it regards as extremist and a threat to national security, particularly Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an international movement calling for the creation of an Islamic caliphate throughout the Muslim world. The country's schools, particularly in rural areas, suffer from a severe lack of resources and shortage of qualified teachers. Corruption is widespread throughout the educational system, with bribes often required to obtain admission to schools or universities.

Freedom of assembly is respected inconsistently. A series of demonstrations throughout 2002 included a March protest in which several people were killed by police. Amendments to the constitution adopted in 2003 require that authorities be notified of public gatherings and give officials the right to prohibit gatherings under certain conditions. In some cases, officials, particularly at the local level, have refused to issue permits for demonstrations to critics of the government. While numerous protests and rallies took place across the country in 2003, most without interference from the authorities, security forces forcibly disrupted some demonstrations. In May, a group of mothers of Aksy victims were arrested, and some were beaten by police when they tried to hold a demonstration in Bishkek. The labor law provides for the formation of trade unions and protects members from anti-union discrimination, and unions generally are able to conduct their activities without obstruction.

Although freedom of association is generally respected and many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operate with little or no state interference, some have faced harassment by the authorities. Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented numerous complaints of intimidation of NGOs by law enforcement in the period surrounding the February constitutional referendum, including pressuring NGO members to remove their signatures from petitions objecting to the draft constitution. A constitutional prohibition on NGOs pursuing political goals that was adopted during the referendum has raised concern that it could be used to ban legitimate civil society activities, including election monitoring. The Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society had its application for re-registration rejected several times by the Ministry of Justice before finally being approved in October 2003; the ministry had cited the constitutional ban in its earlier refusal to register the group. In February, authorities used the pretext of a medical exam to hospitalize the head of the coalition, Edil Baisalov, against his will for several days before he was scheduled to speak at a conference on human rights defenders. In September, the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR) was re-registered under an alternative leadership allegedly not elected by the group's membership. HRW expressed concern that the main objective was to silence criticism of the government by supplanting the legitimate leadership of the KCHR.

Despite various legislative reforms in the court system, the judiciary is not independent and remains dominated by the executive branch. Corruption among judges is reportedly widespread. Police at times use violence against suspects during arrest and interrogation and to extract confessions. Defendants' rights, including the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, were not always respected. The country's prisons suffer from high mortality rates, severe overcrowding, poor medical care, and inadequate nutrition.

Ethnic minority groups, including Uzbeks, Russians, and Uighurs, have complained of discrimination in employment and housing. Members of the country's sizable ethnic Uzbek minority have been demanding more political and cultural rights, including greater representation in government and more Uzbek language schools.

The government of Kyrgyzstan, which abolished the Soviet-era exit-visa system in 1999, generally respects the right of free travel to and from the country. However, certain policies complicate internal migration, including a requirement for citizens to obtain official permits to work and settle in particular areas of the country.

Personal connections, corruption, organized crime, and widespread poverty limit business competition and equality of opportunity. In October, a new regulation requiring merchants at bazaars to use expensive cash registers to report sales and improve tax collection led to protests by thousands of merchants in Bishkek.

Cultural traditions and apathy by law enforcement officials discourage victims of domestic violence from seeking legal help. The trafficking of women and girls into forced prostitution abroad is a serious problem, and some victims report that the authorities are involved in trafficking. In August, the government adopted a criminal code amendment punishing trafficking with up to 20 years in prison. Declining economic conditions in the country have had a negative impact on women's professional and educational opportunities.