The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR) express their deep concern over the violations of human rights in Kyrgyzstan. The FIDH and the KCHR are preoccupied by the harassment against civil society, as well as by the violations of freedoms of assembly, association, and of press.

 Freedoms of assembly and association

 Public Fund "Civil Society Against Corruption"(CSAC) faced different major difficulties within their programme for awareness of citizens' rights. A CSAC public forum, which was due to take place on April 8, 2004, in Bakonbaevo, with the participation of local human rights organisation "Shoola-Kol", was forced to cancellation, due to pressure received from law enforcement bodies.

 During their campaign in some Kyrgyz villages in mid-April 2004, the CSAC members, Tolekan Ismailova, Timur Dulatov and Diana Markanbaeva, were followed all the way long by cars. One of the men in the car presented himself as a member of law enforcement bodies. CSAC members were threatened and insulted by both some inhabitants and militiamen. They finally had to abridge their journey because of the pressure they suffered. According to the information received, officials persuade inhabitants not to cooperate with human rights defenders, threatening to provide no longer the villages with tractors or gasoline.

 In February 2004, Baktygul Imankodjoevas, a CSAC local partner in Barskaun village, was fired for the second time in two years from her work at hospital, due to her activities as human rights defender. Baktygul Imankodjoevas and her sister, Erkingul, who is the leader of human rights NGO "Karek", are both regularly summoned to National Security Service.

 The FIDH and the KCHR remind that the KCHR still suffers today from permanent pressure. The KCHR's chairman R. Dyryldaev had to leave the country, on May 26, 2003, because of constant persecution.

 The article 16§14 of the Kyrgyz Constitution, which provides the right "to assemble peacefully and without weapons, to free meetings and demonstrations", was modified by the February 2, 2003 referendum. Gatherings are now subject to a prior notification of authorities. However, in practice, authorities tend to interpret this obligation as a demand of authorisation, which lead to repeated refusals. For instance, on March 17, 2004, the State administration of Aksy region refused to issue permission to organise meetings in honour of Aksy events. On March 17, 2002, during the violent repression of a peaceful demonstration organised in Aksy, in support for the release of MP Beknazarov, six civilians died from bullets, fired by militiamen. 28 others were wounded and more than 100 became were subjects to torture. And to date, nobody has been facing criminal responsibility for that tragedy.

 On April 15, 2004, a peaceful march was organised in support of Felix Kulov, the leader of the main opposition party "Ar-Namys". F. Kulov is serving a ten-year sentence in prison, accused of abuse of power and treason resulting from an unfair trial. During the demonstration, members of militia from Peromaiskyi Rayon Department of Internal Affairs arrested eighteen people. Among them Tolekan Ismailova, leader of Public Union "Civil Society Against Corruption"; Doolot Nusupov, representative of Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights; Emil Aliev, member of "Ar-Namys" party and Aziza Abdirasulova, leader of human rights organisation "Kylym Shamy". All eighteen people were released that same day. Some of them were fined for organisation of public action not authorised by authorities. According to the information received, Aziza Abdirasulova was ill treated and beaten by militiamen during her detention. (See The Open Letter of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture and the FIDH, to Mr. Nikolai Tanaev, Prime Minister of Kyrgyz Republic, on April 28, 2004)

 On April 19, 2004, the Pervomay regional court has considered the case of another human rights defender, Tursunbek Akun. He was, first, arrested and fined after the April 15 unsuccessful march. And further arrested while participating to a meeting organised by several victims of Renton Group (a commercial firm that bankrupted, leaving moneyless its shareholders). Militiamen presented him the charges based on articles 392 (disturbing public order by organising gatherings, meetings, demonstrations and protest marches), 364 (violation of public order and tranquillity of the citizens) and 371 (disobedience to public authorities) of the administrative code. The accusations of the militiamen, that Tursunbek Akun offended and resisted them, were not proved on the video filmed by the police itself. Aziza Abdrasulova, Tursunbek Akun's lawyer, declared "We can conclude from this that Tursunbek Akun is being persecuted."

 This case may question the independence of the judicial branch toward executive branch of power, regarding to the unwillingness of the authorities to issue fair verdict on the case of F. Kulov and Aksy tragedy.

 Opposition

 At the January 15, 2004, session of the Kyrgyz Legislative Assembly, seven opposition members claimed to have found listening devices hidden in their offices. Amongst the parliamentarians are Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, deputy leader of the Communist Party; Azimbek Beknazarov, whose arrest led to the Aksy events two years ago and Ismail Isakov, former first deputy defense minister and a long-time opponent of President Akaev. The parliamentarians accused the state agency, the National Security Service (NSS) which is a part of security enforcement, for the listening. The chief of the NSS, Kalyk Imankulov denied the charge and accused the parliamentarians of making up the scandal. An investigation has been launched by the Prosecutor General's Office, with no results so far.

 On January 16, opposition deputies passed a resolution condemning all such illicit eavesdropping as unconstitutional and as violating articles 136 (correspondence secrecy) and 304 (abuse of official position) of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code. A special parliamentary group was formed to investigate the case further. On May 21, the deputy commission read the report in the parliament, which gives evidences about systematic following and eavesdropping of not only deputies but also leaders of independent NGOs : N. Ablova, the director of Human Rights Bureau; T. Akun, the chairman of human rights movement; R. Dyryldaev, the chairman of Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights ; T. Ismailova, president of coalition for democracy; as well as the leaders of party "Ar-Namys".

 Freedom of press

 According to the information received by the FIDH and the KCHR, the environment of State hostility toward independent media is also of great concern. On March 17, 2004, the independent company, Pyramid, stopped its broadcasting. It faced technical problems, which were solved within a few days; however, the representatives of telecommunication authorities didn't allow Pyramid to restore broadcasting on meter diapason. On March 10, 2004, Pyramid held a program dedicated to the fifth anniversary of its debate show "Our Time". The topic was "Which freedom do we need?". Political actors, opposition representatives and independent journalists did participate to the show. Pyramid is one of the only independent media in Kyrgyzstan, and in the framework of presidential election of 2005, its closure was very preoccupying, leaving no room for the opposition to be heard in the media. On April, 27 the broadcasting was restored under national and international pressure.

 On March 30, the State commission on radio frequencies rejected the request of Osh TV to extend the term of permission to broadcast from meter diapason without any motivated reasons.

 On April 24, four unidentified men attacked Chingiz Sydykov, the 21-year-old son of Zamira Sydykova, chief-editor of the independent newspaper Respublica. He was hospitalised with serious injuries. Z. Sydykova believes that this assault was in retaliation for the recent series of four articles, published in Respublica, criticising the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyrgyzstan. It is to note that for more than a decade the government's campaign to silence Respublica has focused on Zamira Sydykova. In 1995, Z. Sydykova was charged with slander, after publishing information about President Akaev's foreign bank account. Then, in 1997, she was convicted and sent to a labour camp after reporting on corruption in a government gold-mining company. She was released after serving one month and was banned from working in journalism for 18 months.

 The FIDH and the KCHR wish to recall that during the precedent EU-Kyrgyzstan Cooperation Council (on July 22, 2003), the EU expressed its preoccupation with "occasional pressures, judicial and otherwise, on mass media outlets and journalists". FIDH and KCHR underline that those preoccupations remain concerning as no improvement can be observed.

 The FIDH and the KCHR also express their concern over the excessive use of force by police and law officials and over the attacks on physical and psychological integrity of Kyrgyz people.

 On March 18, 2004, sixty-two prisoners in the Naryn town's jail took control of the prison building. The prisoners complain about extremely bad conditions of maintenance, poor food quality, sanitary conditions and the brutality of the guards. The riot began after three guards beat the prisoner Ilich Asanbekov up. Several ringleaders seized keys from a guard and released all the prisoners from their cells. As a sign of solidarity with Asanbekov eight men slit their wrists. After more than two hours the prison staff alarmed the police, which main task was to prevent a mass escape by the prisoners. After some negotiations a brigade of emergency doctors was called and the local prosecutor promised to initiate a criminal case and punish those responsible for beating Asanbekov. However, so far no criminal inquiry was opened. On March 19, one of the self-injured prisoners, Aidarbek Asrankulov, died in hospital because of loss of blood. This situation shows that the dramatic conclusions drew by the UN Committee against Torture in 1999 concerning allegations of ill treatment and torture in detention in Kygyzstan are still valid.

 On March 30, 2004, law enforcement bodies violently evicted by force 64 families from a building attached to a slaughterhouse in Bishkek. Overall, there were 327 people, including 201 children. Amongst those who were evicted, there were six invalids, five children under one year old and three pensioners. One of the evicted people ended up at the hospital due to the beating done by militiamen. These evictions were carried out without notice and without any proper judicial process . Indeed, law enforcement bodies didn't wait for the term of the trial instituted in that case. Moreover, the inhabitants were not provided with any adequate alternative housing. Those people are now living outside in inhuman conditions. On April 6, Mambetalieva Ayim, a 25-year-old invalid, died from cold. The FIDH and the KCHR recall that according to official figures, given during a press conference in Bishkek, on May 6, 2004, there are more than seven thousand homeless children in Kyrgyzstan. Several people participated to this conference including Mr Itikeeva, director of centre for the protection of children and Mr Madiarova, director of the centre for children's social adoption of Bishkek City. However the figures may be below reality.

 On March 25, 2004, Uigur trader Ilshat Gabazov was killed in the street of Bishkek by four shots. So far, the investigation lead by the Administration of Internal Affairs gave no result. The Uigur community is a Muslim Chinese minority of the Autonomous Region of Xinjiang Uygur of China. They had to flee harassment in China. However since 2000, Kyrgyzstan works to strengthen its ties with China, and Uigurs have to face a new wave of persecution. Since 2002, the Uigur markets in Bishkek already burned down three times. For instance, the Dordoy's one burned on mid April 2004, causing heavy loss for more than 500 traders.

 Two Uigurs, dwellers of Xuar region, Rahmatulla Ismail and Arken Yakuf, were extradited to China after being arrested on July 3, 2002 and then convicted of the murder of the first secretary of Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan, Van Xiampin, in June 2002. They were both executed, in China, during the course of April 2004.

 The FIDH and the FIDH welcome the positive steps taken by the Kyrgyz authorities concerning the death penalty. It completes the moratorium on executions decided in 1998, fully implemented since then. At the beginning of the year 2004, at the initiative of parlementarians, the Parliament adopted a new law, which amended three articles of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code. On March 25, President Akaev signed the law approving those amendments. Indeed, there used to be six crimes warranting the death penalty in the Kyrgyz criminal code. They had now been reduced to three: aggravated murder, rape of underage children and genocide. For the others, death penalty was commuted into life sentence. However, the FIDH and the KCHR call the Kyrgyz authorities to fully abolish the death penalty and to enshrine this position in the constitution. Death penalty is still pronounced by courts. For instance, on March 19, the Aksy District court sentenced to death Dayyrbek Bartyrbekov for the murder of a policeman. Moreover, according to the information received, at least 160 people were reported to be on death row in 2002.