The shooting at demonstrators in Aksy in March 2002, resulting in the death of five people, injuries to 200, and arrests of about 200, overshadowed developments in Kyrgyzstan in 2003. Political and judicial manipulations helped all officials responsible for the shooting to go unpunished—some of them have even be promoted by President Akaev, a move that gives reason to suspect the presidential administration was responsible for the order to open fire at peaceful demonstrators.

Serious human rights violations continued in Kyrgyzstan throughout 2003. They included infringements of the right to gather and demonstrate peacefully and to freely express one’s opinion. The judicial system lacked independence and members of opposition organizations and NGOs were harassed. In addition, President Askar Akaev took steps to expand his power through constitutional amendments that were adopted in a referendum on 2 February.

The economic situation in Kyrgyzstan was alarming. Corruption was widespread in all sectors of public life, starting from the president’s family and going down to all levels of public officials. Most profitable businesses in the country remained in the hands of President’s Akaev family. Furthermore, investors were expected to give bribes to the president’s family or other high officials in order to purchase commercial companies.

Due to lack of transparency and public control, the aid from western governments and international organizations seldom reached the real addressees but ended up in the pockets of government officials. In a similar vein, assistance given by international financial institutions such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Monetary Fond (IMF) has not led to any visible results that the population could profit from. These deficiencies have all but ameliorated the social conditions of the population, the majority of which lives below the poverty level. Pensioners could not afford to pay for public services and proper food. A large part of people lived virtually on bread and water only. In the most dramatic cases, parents resorted to killing their children because they no longer were able to provide for them.

In October 2003, a Russian military base in Kant was inaugurated. With a western coalition base already operating there, Kyrgyzstan became the first country to allow both military blocks to run bases in the territory of one single country.

Referendum

Attempting to strengthen his power, President Akaev failed to abide by the agreement between the government and the opposition to carry out a constitutional reform basing on preparation in which all a wide segment of political actors could participate in. Moreover, the way the 2 February referendum ordered by the government was carried out violated Kyrgyz law and international standards. The constitutional amendments approved by the referendum led to moving powers from the parliament to the president.

The irregularities, which were documented by the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR, IHF member) and other local human rights NGOs, included major discrepancies between the turn-out of voters reported by independent observers and official results; and the manipulation and inflation of the numbers of absentee ballots. In addition, eligible voters were prevented from voting as other people had already cast a ballot in their name. Furthermore, local authorities reportedly prevented numerous independent observers from monitoring the referendum and civil society activists were illegally arrested and intimidated before and during the referendum. Local NGOs also reported about pre-prepared “for” ballot papers that were apparently put into the ballot box. Further, multiple voting orchestrated by authorities was widespread.

The voter turnout was 70%— just as predicted by the president—a matter that gave rise for suspicion that official statistics was faked. Authorities exerted undue pressure on people to vote in favor. For example, university students were not allowed to go on winter holiday before the elections but had to vote under supervision of their professors. In addition, many of them voted for the second time in their place of residence. Before the polling, the Ministry for Health announced that the 10,000 people staying in hospitals would vote in favor of the constitutional amendments. Some 17,000 members of militia and Ministry of Internal Affairs, 13,000 members of Ministry of Security, and also thousands of people from different ministries, administrations and the army were virtually forced to vote in favor of the amendments.

Moreover, in a countrywide campaign to promote the adoption of the constitutional amendments, President Akaev appointed Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev to lead the referendum process.  On 18 January, Tanaev ordered the authorities to go to every region of Kyrgyzstan in order to inform people about the constitutional amendments. In practice, the population was given one-sided information and put under pressure to vote for the amendments. The campaign was carried out with the assistance of thousands of police officers and members of the National Security Service (former KGB), members of Prosecutor’s Offices and judicial bodies, teachers, tax officials, doctors, etc.

International organizations, including the OSCE, declined the Central Election Commission’s invitation to send observers. The OSCE/ODIHR said that announcing the referendum only two weeks prior to the poll not only gave it insufficient time to prepare the monitoring properly but also was inadequate for the consideration of the draft amendments by the public. In its March report, the OSCE/ODIHR expressed its concern both about the process of preparing the final draft amendments and about their substance: decreasing parliamentary powers in favor of increasing presidential powers; the impact of the changes to the electoral system on political party development and participation; and the expansion of the definition of human rights and freedoms to include a number of provisions which might be used to limit rather than expand human rights in the country. In addition, the OSCE/ODIHR noted, there was no substantial campaign in advance of the referendum.[2]

State media transmitted only government propaganda on the referendum.

Freedom of Expression and the Media

Criticism of government policies and widespread corruption was risky and easily led to harassment.

- Feliks Kulov, leader of the opposition Ar-Namys Party and former Bishkek mayor and minister of national security, remained imprisoned. He had received a ten-year prison sentence in May 2002 on charges of abuse of office and financial misconduct, accusations which were believed to be politically motivated. The ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court on 15 August 2003. Kyrgyzstan’s officials excluded Kulov from the ballot in the October 2000 presidential elections and the recent Supreme Court ruling appears to be aimed at also excluding him from the 2005 presidential elections.[3]

- The Pervomaiskiy rayon Court in Bishkek ruled on 10 January that the country’s only Kyrgyz-language newspaper, Kyrgyz Ordo, be closed down. The Bishkek City Court upheld the ruling on 28 April. The case was filed by A. Duishaliev, deputy chairman of the Customs Service of the Kyrgyz Republic. A year before, Kyrgyz Ordo had claimed in one of its articles that Duishaliev had plagiarized his academic theses.

- On 11 June, Chief Editor of the newspaper Moya Stolisa, Alexander Kim announced that his paper had to stop publishing because it had gone bankrupt. As a result of 31 cases filed against it, Kyrgyz courts had ordered it to pay a total of 4 million soms in moral damage for defaming government officials and other personalities close to the president and the government. One million out of this amount should be paid to Prime Minister Tanaev. Local monitors believe that the closure was exactly what the initiators of the suits had aimed at in order to silence a vocal critic of government policies and economic abuses. The Kyrgyz Ombudsman, Tursunbai Bakir uulu has considered the cases against Moya Stolica unjustified. Founded in 2001, Moya Stolica’s publication had been suspending temporarily three times before its closure in 2003.

Outspoken journalists continued to be intimidated and harassed.

- On 20 January, Alexandra Chernyh, a journalist with the newspaper Moya Stolica was beaten up by two unidentified men when walking on a street with her son. The men beat her with a bludgeon (a weapon normally used by police officers), stole her bag, money and a dictaphone and disappeared. A medical doctor diagnosed head injuries and her son experienced a shock. Chernyh’s colleagues were convinced that she was attacked because of her professional activities. Her mother, R. Prijivoit, who is the chief editor Moy Stolitsa’s department on politics, had also received threats. Both the mother and the daughter are known for their articles critical of the government. The local police failed to investigate the incident properly.

- On 15 September, the dead body of Ernis Nazalov was found on the territory of Karasu rayon. A former correspondent of the newspaper Kyrgyz Ordo, Nazalov wrote about corruption among Kyrgyz officials.

- On February 4th, 2004, two masked men broke into the office of the Osh Mass Media Resource Center (ORC MM), an internationally funded non-governmental organization. They ill-treated and tied up the security guard on duty. After threatening the journalists working for the center, the attackers stole computer and other electronic equipments in worth of more than USD 5,000.[4]

Freedom of Association

In April, the Ministry of Justice gave secret, restrictive orders on registration of NGOs, religious associations and media outlets. The orders, signed by Deputy Minister of Justice Nurlan Alymbaev, prescribed that when registering non-profit organizations, authorities should pay special attention to the links of their members and founders to “opposition forces and to their close relatives.”

The Ministry of Justice also pointed out that “according to article 8 of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, activities of public and religious organizations or their branches, which seek political aims, are prohibited.” This statement undermines article 8.4(6) of the Constitution which only prohibits activities of “foreign” political parties, public and religious organizations, and their branches “which seek political aims.” Authorities were also asked to report to the Ministry of Justice any information available on international donations received by associations or media outlets which could “negatively influence society and the political conditions” in Kyrgyzstan. 

No independent trade unions existed in Kyrgyzstan in 2003: the only registered trade union was a relic from the Soviet era.

- In March, an oblast administration of justice refused to register a trade union for local mass media, apparently fearing that they would engage in joint activities critical of the government. In a similar vein, in the Osh oblast administration register media trade unions despite repeated urges to do that.

The Kyrgyz authorities again made an effort to oust the chairman of the KCHR, which is a leading independent human rights organization in Kyrgyzstan country and has been a member of the IHF since January 1999.

- On 28 November, radio Liberty reported that in the same month the Ministry of Justice had illegitimately registered a “KCHR” led by Bolot Tynaliev. In August, a group led by Tynaliev met in Bishkek and claimed to replace KCHR founder and chairman Ramazan Dyrldaev. No KCHR member, not even one of its eleven board members, was present at the meeting, which therefore infringed upon the KCHR’s statutory requirements for any organizational changes within the committee. On 9 September, Deputy Justice Minister Nurlan Alymbaev reportedly told to Radio “Azatyk” that the new group would be registered within a few days under the KCHR’s name. The ministry of justice claimed that the KCHR Charter was in contradiction with constitutional provisions, particularly the Charter’s paragraph 2.2 on “advocacy of political rights of citizens.” Also, the re-registration of the real KCHR was rejected on the grounds that it had allegedly “pursued political aims.” The measures by the Ministry of Justice were virtually tantamount to setting up a bogus KCHR that is loyal to the Kyrgyz government, a move that is a clear violation of the internationally guaranteed right to freedom of association and of Kyrgyz law. This move was the latest in a series of attempts in the past ten years to silence the original KCHR. As of the end of 2003, the property of the genuine KCHR was under threat of confiscation. The campaign against the KCHR has included harassment of its members, raids to its office, confiscation of property, and forcing its head Ramazan Dyryldaev into exile.[5]

During the meeting of local human rights groups of Kyrgyzstan with Deputy Ministry of Justice Alymbaev, the deputy minister admitted that his ministry had made a mistake in there-registration process of the KCHR and promised to correct the mistakes. However, by the end of 2003 nothing had been done to this end.

Leading members of the political opposition, particularly the Ar-Namys Party, continued to remain imprisoned or were otherwise targeted: they were often visited by KNB members and pressured to leave the party and their family members were threatened to lose their jobs.[6]

Peaceful Assembly

Pickets or public meeting were legal if their organizers had received an approval from local authorities, but in practice local authorities did not permit such events to oppositionist parties or independent public unions.

- The Djalal-Abad City Administration refused to allow the public movement “For Akaev’s Resignation and Reforms for People” to hold a public meeting. The movement’s activists met five times with the first Deputy of Mayor Shadier Aitbaev but did not receive permission. There were numerous similar cases in Kyrgyzstan.

- On 16 May, relatives of people who died during the Aksy shootings in March 2002 came to Bishkek to turn to the president to speed up investigations into the incident and to punish those responsible for the abuses. They were arrested and held in detention for 21 hours. Some of them were beaten during arrest and although three of them— Nurbu Urkinbaeva, Suiun Atakanova and Meilikan Toktobolotova—would have needed medical care; two of them were not admitted to hospital. Eighteen female relatives of dead or tortured women announced a hunger strike starting on 17 May Moreover, several civil society activists, who had urged the government to promptly investigate the Aksy incident, were subjected to harassment, including T. Akunov, chairman of Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan; T. Turgunaliev, director of the Institute of Human Rights; and KCHR members A. Fomenko, J. Kulova,  and Ajibekova, who were also fined.

- Despite demonstrations and international appeals, those responsible for the 2002 Aksy shootings and other violence against demonstrators were still not taken to justice. What was more, President Akaev promoted many of the officials who were responsible for the incident.

Judicial System and Independence of the Judiciary

No serious measures were taken in Kyrgyzstan in 2003 towards a more independent judiciary. Courts remained under the influence of the presidential administration and the executive. They were under-financed and judges underpaid, both facts that the judicial personnel vulnerable to bribes. In addition, authorities constantly held attestations of judges in order to keep them under their control. As a result, fair trials were not guaranteed. Lawyers, whose clients were known opposition activists, were not able to work freely. Moreover, the Criminal and Civil Codes were not up to par with international standards.

- Ashimbek Uulu Nurlan, Deputy Judge of the Bishkek Military Court, who in August 2000 acquitted Feliks Kulov was transferred to the Batken Oblast Court as a regular judge, an obvious retaliation act under the pretext that his post in Bishkek would be abolished. However, soon after his transfer, the post was re-established. In addition, pro-governmental media constantly accused Uulu Nurlan for taking bribes in the Kulov case. In the end, Ashimbek Uulu Nurlan, who had been appointed to hold a judge’s post until 2007, was forced to step down, and at the end of 2003, he was without work.

Torture, Ill-treatment and Police Misconduct

In April, Kyrgyz parliament passed a bill adding to the Criminal Code a provision to prohibit the use of torture. However, President Akaev vetoed the amendment and for more than six months refused to sign it into law. He finally signed it in November.

Torture was widespread practice during interrogation of criminal suspects.

- Twenty-year-old Zuhra[7] was arrested by Bazakurgan militiamen on 5 March on suspicion of having stolen a rug and two towels. During interrogation, she was allegedly tortured despite the fact that she had told the officers that she was pregnant. After seven months of arrest, Zuhra was taken to rayon hospital in September, where she gave birth prematurely to a girl. Zuhra told that while she was in hospital, militia officers were waiting for her and immediately after giving birth she was handcuffed for two days. During this period her baby girl died as a result of malnutrition. Right after death of her baby Zuhra was reportedly taken back into custody.

Conditions in Prisons and Detention Facilities

The conditions in Kyrgyz prisons and jails were excruciatingly bad. Prisoners did not undergo a medical check upon their arrival, and healthy prisoners were kept in overcrowded cells together with prisoners suffering from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and AIDS. Prisoners’ nutrition was seriously substandard and scarce and prison administrations largely relied on relatives bringing food to prisoners. No special diets were available for those who would have needed them for health reasons.

The facilities for personal hygiene were totally inadequate. For example, in the Djalal Abad jail, prisoners had to use a bucket instead of lavatories in cells where up to 12 people were detained.

On 24 October, Deputy Director of the National Security Services, Mr. Poluektov told the parliament that 7-10 inmates died every month in Kyrgyz prisons as a result of appalling conditions. Most victims were men in death row. Many of them had appealed to the president to cancel the moratorium on the death penalty saying that they prefer execution to living in Kyrgyz prisons.

During the same parliamentary session it was reported that law enforcement agencies had failed to investigate the death of ten prisons under suspicious circumstances. Many parliamentarians suspected that several of them had been tortured to death. Kyrgyz parliament decided to look into the cases but local monitors feared that the truth would never be revealed as the parliament’s investigations were dependent on the executive branch, which was notorious for lack of cooperation in cases involving alleged abuses.

Human rights activists believed that in reality hundreds of inmates died annually of tuberculosis and other diseases. However, only in rare cases were the prisoners’ relatives informed of the fate of their loved ones, and very few of the deceased underwent a post mortem examination. As a result, deaths that could have been attributed to torture ran the risk of never being discovered and the perpetrators never brought to justice.

Kyrgyz Ombudsman Tursunbai Bakir uulu announced in December that, after having visited several jails, correctional colony for juvenile delinquents, and military jails, he could conclude that conditions in them were totally unacceptable. He found rats spread out in the facilities, toilets out of operation, and windows without screens, among other things. Furthermore, cells were crowded and prisoners suffering from infections diseases such as tuberculosis amongst healthy ones. Especially striking was the situation in a youth colony. Young inmates did not wear shoes even in the winter, and the building was decayed due to dampness.  Underage girls were held in jails together with adult women, in violation of international standards. In youth colony in village there are about 200 teenagers being held.

Stringent sentencing policies led to heave sentences also for youths, while human rights defenders promoted for alternative sentences.

- A 14-year-old teenager was sentenced for three years in prison for stealing a bottle of vodka worth about one Euro. Another under aged was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for stealing money worth of about 15 Euros.

Freedom of Movement

By Kyrgyz law, those who had been convicted of a crime or people who had had access to secret were prohibited from leaving the country. To be able to travel abroad, a Kyrgyz citizen needed an “international page” in his passport which could be applied at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This procedure appeared to be applied in a discriminatory manner against government critics.

- Dilbar Momunkulova the leader of the movement of Aksy victims, had been invited to participate in the November OSCE meeting on torture, held in Vienna. She applied for an “international page” at the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which, on 31 October, informed her that it would not issue the page. Momunkulova had never been convicted for any crime, nor was she in possession of any state secret. She was simply selected by the relatives of Aksy victim to represent them in activities to bring the Aksy perpetrator to justice. She had led a group of people, including 20 mothers of the Aksy victims, to Bishkek in order to get an appointment with President Akaev. However, on their way to the presidential administration, they were arrested and deported back to Aksy region. Dilbar Momunkulova was tortured several times.

Religious Intolerance

The April secret letter from the Ministry of Justice also ordered authorities to pay special attention at registration of religious organizations to the background of the funders, possible missionary activities and other aims of the organization and the possibility that they are extremist or terrorist organizations which are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation, and organization, which the KNB considers to be “destructive and totalitarian sects.”

One of such organizations was Hizb-ut-Tahrir, by peaceful means, seeks to establish Islamic order in Central Asia. However; the Kyrgyz government portraits this organizations as an extremist organization that posed a threat to security of the country and continued to arrest and harass its members and supporters.

- On 2 January, Toktorbai Tohtakulov, 51-year-old member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir from the village of Arstanbap in Djalal-Abad oblast was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. He was tried in the Bazar-Korgon District Court, Jalalabad oblast. Tohtakulov was accused of illegal storage of weapons and explosives under article 241(1) of the Criminal Code. Many suspected, however, that the weapons and explosives were planted by special services.

- Ikram Abdurahmanov, another member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence. He had spread leaflets with text “No to democracy!”, “Americans out of Kyrgyzstan!” etc.

- 27-year-old Farhatdjon Turakulov identified himself as the leader of a Hizb-ut-Tahrir cell and a “computer brain” of its district department. He had set up a copy shop in Osh and printed and distributed literature considered to be an extremist. Turakulov was sentenced to eight years in labor colony. During the trial the defendants complained that they had been tortured (e.g., beaten on their heels) and had not been given enough food.

Earlier, people arrested on suspicion of being Hizb-ut-Tahrir activists were only interviewed, included into a data base and given prosecutor’s warning. The second step was to fine them or to imprison them for up to five years if the crime they had committed was considered a “group crime.”

Death Penalty

In December 1988, President Akaev instituted moratorium on the death penalty for two years. After that, he has extended it annually, the last time being 31 December 2003.[8] However, the death penalty remained in books also after the 2003 referendum, although the government was reported to say in December that it aimed to abolish it by 2010. It also said it would improve the physical conditions for prisoners in death row.[9]

Courts continued to have down death sentences, but due to lack of official statistics, it was impossible to say how many in total were pronounced in 2003.

Rights of the Child[10]

Many children lived in the streets, supporting themselves from begging. Moreover, according to the newspaper Vecherniy Bishkek and other sources, some 200,000 children did not attend school. Instead, many of were working in bazaar or as street vendors, while many lived on stealing. Child prostitution was widespread, with young girls been subjected to beatings and group rapes. Law enforcement officials sometimes caught street children and ill-treated them in order to make them “confess” offenses they had not committed.

In December, the Kyrgyz ombudsman visited a colony for teenagers. Under aged law violators even in winter walk bear feet, the floor of the building is rotting out of moisture and walls are covered with mold.  Under aged girls are kept in colonies together with adult women. Now in village Voznecenovka

Number of suicides among children has increased and it became a problem.  The problem of suicide is not due to consciousness of individuals but due to difficult socio-economic situation in the country since corruption is destroying everything in Kyrgyzstan. According to data of Ministry of internal affairs there were 573 suicides in 2002, 93 of them are children and teenagers under 20. In this year there are 401 cases of suicides, 14 of which are among children and teenagers.

Human Rights Defenders

The de-registration of the KCHR and re-registration a government-supported “NGO” under its name (see freedom of association), resulted in the establishment of a bogus human rights organization that appears to be totally ignorant of human rights question. Its lack of independency was demonstrated, among other things, by the participation of its representatives in OSCE meetings in the ranks of the government delegations.

In addition to de-registration of the KCHR, also other human rights defenders were targeted in Kyrgyzstan in 2003.

- In February, the head of the NGO Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society Edil Baisalov, was forcibly held in a military hospital for three days under the pretext to carry out a check if he was suitable for military service. This happened on the same day he was scheduled to participate in a roundtable organized by Freedom House. In January, Baisalov had already undergone a medical check and had been declared unfit on health grounds for military service. As a result, he was prevented from giving his scheduled speech at a roundtable discussion on 28 February on alleged irregularities with regard to the constitutional referendum.[11]

- In May, the director of the Kyrgyz Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law was approached by a member of the KNB who questioned her about her work, wanted to enter her apartment and finally hinted in a light tone that the NGOs office could be blown in the air unless she agreed to cooperate with him.[12]

- Also in May, Galina Kaissarova, board member of the Bishkek Human Rights group and a well-known defense lawyer, was told by the Ministry of Justice that she might lose her license for legal practice. A libel suit was pending against her from a government official whom she had cross-examined toughly in 2001. She was also involved in various human rights activities and established herself as a columnist in charge of free legal advice for readers of several independent newspapers in Bishkek.[13]

- On 3 May, Dmitry Kabak, a human rights activist with the NGO “Frank Position”, was attacked by an unidentified person and hit on the head. He was about to leave for Denmark to participate in a human rights course. In Denmark, he was diagnosed to suffer from concussion. Kabak had cooperated closely with Galina Kaissarova and been an outspoken critic in human rights issues.[14]

On 15 October, human rights defender Aziza Abdurasulova by the Pervomai district department of internal affairs as she was monitoring the organization of a peaceful meetings and a picket in Bishkek. She was taken in a militia station. This was the seventh time since 2000 when Aziza Abdurasulova had been arrested by the same militia officer without any obvious reason.