Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2006 - Kyrgyzstan

Proceedings against Mr. Maxim Kuleshov²³

On December 20, 2005, the head of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs in the town of Tokmok filed a complaint for "defamation" and "insults" against Mr. Maxim Kuleshov, head of the association World-Light of Culture and coordinator of the Tokmok Resource Centre for Human Rights. Mr. Kuleshov was accused of publicly threatening and insulting the employees of the Ministry of Home Affairs during a campaign entitled "Tokmok against torture – Helping to stop torture" held on December 2, 2005 in Tokmok park.

On January 6, 2006, the hearing was postponed sine die, due to the absence of the plaintiff. On February 27, 2006, the Court decided to drop the charges against Mr. Kuleshov as the plaintiff had missed three hearings in a row without any valid reason.

On the night of July 31 to August 1, 2006 a window of the headquarters of World-Light of Culture was broken. On August 1, Mr. Kuleshov petitioned the Tokmok police chief to open an investigation. No response had been received by the end of 2006.

Judicial proceedings against members of Spravedlivost²⁴

In March 2006, Mr. Ali Mageev, chief inspector of the Regional Department of Internal Affairs in Jalal-Abad, brought charges against Ms. Valentina Gritzenko, president of the regional board of the human rights NGO Spravedlivost ("Justice"), which provides legal assistance, Mr. Mahamatjan Abdujaparov, a lawyer for the organisation, and Mr. Abdumalik Sharipov, author of the information newsletter The Law For All published by the organisation.

This complaint followed the January 2006 publication of an article entitled "Women beaten, even when pregnant", in which Mr. Abdumalik Sharipov had denounced the acts of violence perpetrated by police officers, in particular Mr. Ali Mageev, against several women, including Ms. Narghiza Turdyeva, whose testimony he recounted. Mr. Ali Mageev initiated a claim for one million sums (about 20,000 euros) from each of the accused and required 157,000 sums (about 3,200 euros) in damages in respect of the publication of the article.

On June 20, 2006, during the preliminary hearing, Ms. Turdyeva, the main witness, was insulted by a number of pregnant women who had come in support of Mr. Mageev. After Mr. Abdumalik Sharipov brought these incidents to the judges' attention during the June 21 hearing, Mr. Ali Mageev requested that charges be initiated against Mr. Sharipov for "defamation" and "insults".

The hearing was suspended and the trial postponed on medical grounds as Ms. Turdyeva was then eight months pregnant.

The charges remained pending as of late 2006.

Assault against Mr. Edil Baisalov²⁵

On April 12, 2006, Mr. Edil Baisalov, president of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, was hit on the back of the neck by an unidentified man in Bishkek and was taken to hospital suffering from concussion. On April 8, 2006, he had led a demonstration against organised crime.

By the end of 2006, despite the launch of an investigation into alleged "hooliganism with the use of violence" (Article 234-3-2 of the Criminal Code) by the Bishkek Prosecutor on April 13, 2006, none of his attackers had been identified or arrested.

Ongoing harassment of KCHR²⁶

Ongoing denial of legal recognition

In spite of repeated statements by Mr. Tursunbek Akun, chair of the Presidential Commission for Human Rights, no action was taken in 2006 regarding the request for registration introduced by the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR), despite the fact that all of the required documentation had been provided.

KCHR has been deprived of its legal status since November 2003, when former members of the Committee close to the government established an organisation bearing the same name and aimed at discrediting the activities of the independent KCHR. The organisation has still not been able to annul the registration of the surrogate organisation, a prerequisite to the re-registration of the organisation.

Acts of harassment against Mr. Ramazan Dyryldaev

On April 20, 2006, Mr. Ramazan Dyryldaev, president of KCHR, was summoned to appear before the Pervomaiski Regional Court in Bishkek in relation to the examination of an appeal filed by Mr. Eliseev, a former KCHR member now close to the government, who had lodged several complaints against Mr. Dyryldaev that were closed on December 20, 2005 as no offence was constituted. As he was travelling abroad at the time, he was unable to attend the hearing. No further developments in this case were reported as of the end of 2006.

Following the publication of an article entitled "Kyrgyz special services continue to pursue the opposition" on a website called Central Asia on September 11, 2006, Mr. Dyryldaev received phone calls threatening him with physical violence for over one month.

Ongoing harassment of Ms. Aziza Abdyrasulova²⁷

On April 20, 2006, an unidentified man, who introduced himself as a friend of one of her acquaintances, came to the office of Ms. Aziza Abdyrasulova, a lawyer and president of the human rights NGO Kylym Shamy ("Candle of the Century"), and asked her to help him to find a job with an NGO. The young man then asked questions regarding the organisation's sources of funding and partners.

Ms. Abdyrasulova later realised that the license plate of his car indicated that he was an officer of the national security services.

Subsequently, on April 25, 2006, Ms. Abdyrasulova received a visit from the chief-lieutenant of the criminal police of the home affairs department of the Sverdlovsk region in Bishkek, who asked her "who [was] the leader of her party". Ms. Abdyrasulova replied that her association was a non-political human rights organisation. He then questioned her in relation to the organisation's funding and informed her that all NGOs were to be subjected to regular audits on the order of Mr. Marat Kajypov, Minister for Justice.

Those visits occurred in the aftermath of a debate between the President of the Republic and civil society on April 19, 2006, during which Ms. Aziza Abdyrasulova was considered to have raised "disturbing" issues, in particular regarding the government's human rights policy.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

23. See Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR).

24. Idem.

25. Idem.

26. See Annual Report 2005.

27. Idem.