Some Oppositionists Still Keep On Fighting In Kyrgyzstan

Recently Kyrgyz President Bakiev announced wide ranging plans to change the government structure. Following his declaration the government under prime minister Igor Chudinov resigned, making way for new personnel. Eventually the cabinet reshuffle was not as big as expected. The only surprise was Danijar Usenov, head of the presidential administration, being nominated for the position of prime minister by the Ak-Zhol Party, Bakiev’s political stronghold. Since Ak-Zhol holds a comfortable majority in the Zhogorku Kenesh after stealing its way into the parliament in December 2007, Usenov got his final approval and now is busy completing his new cabinet, appointing neither new candidates nor representatives of the opposition.

The opposition in Kyrgyzstan seems to observe the developments as a mere bystander. So far I haven’t heard anything from a member of the opposition. Either they can’t make it into the public anymore, since all media is state controlled, or they are afraid of being pursued by the Genprokuratura or the GKNB. However, it seems that there are still some individuals left that try to withstand the ever growing power of the current regime in Kyrgyzstan. What is more surprising is that those individuals can be found amidst the paralyzed mass of parliament deputies that so much tries to resist becoming what it is supposed to be – a lively forum for political debate and conflict.

A Little Bit of History Repeating?

Yesterday the E-mail List of the Youth Association Kel-Kel sent out a short press release issued by the Kyrgyz Human Rights watchdog ‘Kylym Shamy’. In it the organization informs about an incident that occurred at Moscow airport. Human Rights activist Aziza Abdirasulova, head of ‘Kylym Shamy’ was arrested at the airport after border guards found a bullet in her hand luggage. The circumstances of this alleged discovery are more than suspicious as becomes clear from the press release. Abdirasulova, who recently became more public by openly criticizing the government and president Bakiev for false elections in July, was not allowed to witness the search of her luggage, ordered to step away, while the Russian officials several times went through her things. Only in the end, after scanning the bag again and again, they somehow ‘found’ the mysterious bullet.

‘Kylym Shamy’ calls this incident a provocation and rightly asks, how Abdirasulova could leave Warsaw airport, if the bullet was already in her bag? The statement ends with the conclusion that this case poses more questions than is providing answers.