To the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. To the Ambassadors of the Council of Europe, USA, UK, France, and Germany in Kyrgyzstan. To International and Kyrgyz Human Rights Organizations. To the Media.
We, the Kempir-Abad prisoners, who have been detained for two years and are being tried behind closed doors, are writing to you because our lawyers—Erkin Bulekbaev, Erkin Sadanbekov, Akyn Toktaliev, Zhanish Barakov, Akylbek Abazbekov, Asel Argymbaeva, Chinara Jakupbekova, Akynbek Nogoev, Munarbek Supattaev, Bakyt Avtandil, Rabiga Sydykova, Kantemir Sydykov—are being pressured and persecuted by Judge Marat Sydykov and law enforcement agencies.
Not only does Judge Marat Sydykov, along with prosecutors, systematically violate our rights, but they also deprive our lawyers of their right to receive medical treatment, to participate in other court sessions and investigations, and their right to work as stipulated by the Constitution and international conventions. They intimidate and pressure them for not being able to attend court sessions for legitimate reasons. Sydykov has banned well-known lawyer Akyn Toktaliev from participating in trials based on false information about the “invalidity of his attorney license.” Additionally, Marat Sydykov has appealed to the Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic to revoke the law licenses of lawyers Bulekbaev, Abazbekov, and Sadanbekov without any cause, while also intimidating other lawyers.
We have information that the General Prosecutor Kurmankul Zulushev himself is involved in revoking lawyer E. Bulekbaev’s license and has sent a letter to the Ethics Commission of Lawyers.
Moreover, the GKNB has started monitoring our lawyers’ presence at court sessions. GKNB officers forcibly brought lawyers E. Sadanbekov and K. Turdaliev to court despite their illnesses. They called the wife and daughter of lawyer E. Sadanbekov, demanding they find their father.
GKNB officers demanded that the lawyers attend the trials, and those who disobeyed were summoned for a “discussion” at the GKNB. Investigator summoned lawyer E. Bulekbaev to the GKNB without reason. Those with relatives in government positions are subjected to pressure and threats.
Judge M. Sydykov and law enforcement officers intimidate and pressure our lawyers in various ways, appointing state lawyers to us, thereby limiting our right to qualified legal assistance and the right to choose our lawyers, as provided by the Constitution.
We, the Kempir-Abad prisoners, consider the pressure on our lawyers to be an unprecedented incident. We believe that such actions are unacceptable in a lawful state.
We, the Kempir-Abad prisoners, are being forced to refuse the lawyers who have defended us for the past two years.
We request that you investigate these facts, take them into account in human rights reports, inform the institutions that protect democracy in your countries, and engage in human rights negotiations with our government.
