Tag Archives: law

Kyrgyz police arrest alleged coup organisers

MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Bishkek arrested three leaders of the opposition People’s Parliament group for planning what they said was a coup. Sources at law enforcement agencies said that police had arrested leader Bekbolot Talgarbekov and his associates Torobai Kolubayev and Marat Sultanov. Talgarbekov had been a senior government official under Kyrgyzstan’s first post Soviet president, Askar Akayev. Kyrgyzstan has suffered two violent revolutions since independence in 1991.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Court in Tajikistan sentences opposition

MAY 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Tajik court sentenced Bakhtiyor Nazarov, son of former deputy minister of defence Abdukhalim Nazarzoda, to 22 years in prison for inciting riots and calling for a revolution. In September 2015, Nazarzoda allegedly organised a coup against President Emomali Rakhmon. The Tajik security forces later killed Nazarzoda and accused several members of the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of masterminding the attack.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kyrgyz court sentences Bakiyev

APRIL 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Kyrgyzstan extended a prison sentence on the widely reviled Maxim Bakiyev, the son of the ousted former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, to 30 years for money laundering and extortion. Bakiyev has been living in London since he fled Kyrgyzstan after a revolution in 2010. In 2015, a transparency group revealed that he owns a mansion in southern England worth an estimated $5m. Kyrgyzstan has applied to have Bakiyev extradited but his lawyers have successfully countered this request by saying that he wouldn’t receive a fair trial in Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kyrgyz court frees ex-Bishkek mayor

MAY 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court freed Nariman Tuleyev, former mayor of Bishkek, after roughly three years in prison. He had been convicted of corruption over a deal to buy Chinese buses and snow removal equipment. It’s unclear exactly why the Kyrgyz authorities had decided to amnesty Tuleyev although there have been allegations that he was beaten in prison.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Uzbek authorities investigate GM

MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A GM Uzbekistan executive in Russia said that the authorities in Uzbekistan had opened an investigation into the company for losses incurred by its Russian division.

Yelena Kuznetsova, director of marketing at the Russian representative office for Ravon, GM Uzbekistan’s brand in Russia, refused to confirm to Reuters, though, whether a news report on the opposition website Uzmetronom that police had detained an executive at

“The company (GM Uzbekistan) is being investigated because the Russian distributor was unable to repay its debt,” she said.

An earlier report by Uzmetronom said police had detained Tokhirjon Jalilov, the former GM Uzbekistan CEO, for a scam involving Ravon cars bound for Russia.

GM Uzbekistan is one of the country’s most important joint ventures. The Uzbek government owns a 75% stake in the project. GM owns a 25% stake.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kazakh PM approves land reform commission

MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov approved the members of a newly- established commission that will discuss reform of the land code. Bakhtyzhan Sagintayev, vice PM will head the commission which includes politicians, businessmen and members of civil society. The proposed amendments to the land code triggered weeks of protests throughout Kazakhstan and forced Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev to delay introducing them.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kyrgyzstan scraps law that threatened to curtail NGOs

BISHKEK, MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rights campaigners in Kyrgyzstan were celebrating an unexpected victory over a proposed law that would have imposed restrictions on local NGOs with links to foreign funding and influences.

In a sign of the growing maturity of Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary democracy, Kyrgyz lawmakers voted 65 to 46 against introducing a law that was supposedly based on Russia’s so-called foreign agents law. This would have meant that NGOs receiving funding from abroad would have had to register with a special database and agree to increased oversight.

Mihra Rittmann, the Human Rights Watch Kyrgyzstan researcher, said that Russia had used its own version of the law to carry out intrusive searches that have forced some NGOs to close.

“This is an important decision by Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh,” she wrote. “Kyrgyzstan is Central Asia’s only parliamentary democracy and today’s rejection of the bill is a reminder of the positive role the Jogorku Kenesh can play in upholding Kyrgyzstan’s human rights commitments.”

Even before the vote on Thursday, the bill had been watered down taking out some of the more controversial wording, such as references to foreign agents with its undertone of espionage.

Still, seeing off the bill altogether is a victory for more liberal, Western- minded Kyrgyz who had worried about the expanding influence of Russia in Kyrgyzstan and the wider region in general.

Zhanar Akayev, an MP for the ruling Social Democratic Party, explained that economics had also played a role in defeating the bill.

“Many international organisations expressed their concern,” he was quoted by media as saying. “We get financial assistance from them in many fields, including healthcare, education, and agriculture, among others. We need this money.”

And this view was largely reflected outside parliament too.

Galina, 25, said she was relieved the bill had been voted down.

“Overall I think that the less the number of laws and regulations, the better it is,” she said. “I was afraid, that the state would use this law for its own purposes.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Editorial: NGOs in Kyrgyzstan

MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Liberal, Western forces in Kyrgyzstan have scored a major victory by defeating a bill that had the Kremlin’s fingerprints all over it.

Essentially, the so called foreign agents bill aimed to blacklist NGOs which had links with foreign governments and organisations.

This blacklist would have meant more surveillance, checks and interference. It would have put many NGOs, which operate on tight margins and may not be pushing the preferred Kyrgyz government line, into liquidation.

Instead, by mounting a serious-minded campaign and targeting MPs who had a vote on the issue, those against the law were able to at first get it watered down and then scrapped altogether.

This is good news too for Kyrgyzstan’s fledgling parliamentary democracy, only five-years-old last year. It shows resilience and that the system is working. This was democracy in action in Central Asia.

The result of the MPs’ vote may also show that this term’s MPs, voted in last year, are more liberal bunch.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Editorial: Nazarbayev and protests

MAY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a choreographed government meeting, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev blamed everyone but himself for the turmoil that proposed amendments to the land code have brought to the country.

The presidential press service posted parts of the government meeting on Facebook showing an angry Mr Nazarbayev.

He dressed down the ministers of economy and agriculture for having failed to explain the land reform to the population. With a patronising tone, Mr Nazarbayev said the population had been unable to understand the reform and needed to be spoon-fed details.

Once more, Mr Nazarbayev wanted to portray himself as the strong leader, the one who understands the people.

Nobody should be fooled. These were, and still are, Mr Nazarbayev’s reforms.

Everyone in Kazakhstan knows that for a bill to pass, especially an important one such as the land code, Mr Nazarbayev’s input is crucial.

He misjudged the appetite of the people to accept the land reforms.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Armenia to debate status of Nagorno-Karabakh

May 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government sent a bill proposing the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country to parliament, teeing up another flashpoint with Azerbaijan over the disputed region.

This is the first time that the parliament will formally debate the status of Nagorno-Karabakh even though it has been run by Armenia- backed forces since a UN-brokered ceasefire was imposed in 1994.

Last month the worst fighting in two decades broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh, killing several dozen people and alarming the international community.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)