Kyrgyzstan
11.11.04
Urgent Interventions
Kyrgyzstan: Physical attack of Mr. Dyryldaev's daughter
URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY
New Information
KGZ 002 / 0803 / OBS 044.5
Physical attack
Kyrgyzstan
November 11, 2004
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of FIDH and OMCT, has received new information concerning the following situation in Kyrgyzstan and requests your urgent intervention.
New Information:
The Observatory has been informed by the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR) that Mrs. Ainura Aitbaeva, the daughter of the Committee’s chairman, Mr. Ramazan Dyryldaev, has again been the object of a physical attack.
According to the information received, as Mrs. Aitbaeva and her husband were walking home around 5 p.m. on November 4, 2004, a dark blue BMW vehicle started moving into their direction. When they realized the car was getting closer, her husband pushed Mrs. Aitbaeva to the side as the car slightly touched her and threw himself over a fence. Then the car hit the fence and moved to her direction as she was lying on the floor. At this moment they started running and finally entered a courtyard and closed the entrance door behind them.
Mrs. Aitbaeva later declared that there seemed to be two men inside the car, who looked similar to those who had attacked her and her children in July 2004 (see background information below). Before driving away, one of the men got out of the car for a moment, and voiced some invectives. Mrs. Aitbaeva then decided she and her children should remain hidden.
According to information from KCHR, the incident was not registered at a “militia” (police) department, as they fear that no investigation would follow. Indeed, Mrs. Aitbaeva had gone to the Sverdlovsk District Department of Internal Affairs (ROVD) immediately after leaving the hospital, on July 15, following the first attack on July 3, 2004. Law enforcement officers have refused to conduct an investigation although the harm she had suffered was evident, including a report from the hospital. The officials, who treated her in a rough manner, declared that their refusal to investigate was due to the fact that she is the daughter of Mr. Dyryldaev, who had criticized the President.
According to the information received, on October 26, 2003, after a telephone call from the United States embassy in Kyrgyzstan, the inspector from Sverdlovsk ROVD, Mr. Kasymaliev, had called her around 9 a.m. to inform that they were compelled to open a criminal case on the attack of July 3, 2004, as the international organizations had put pressure upon the ministries, but despite this fact no investigation would be undertaken.
According to KCHR, Mrs. Aitbaeva’s husband, Mr. Aitbaev Murat, himself a law enforcement officer at OGAI (Oblast state car inspection) of the Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek, had been fired on June 12, 2003 due to his father-in-law’s activities. Since then he has remained unemployed.
Background information:
On July 3, 2004, Mrs. Aitbaeva Ainura, the daughter of Mr. Dyryldaev, had been attacked at her home. Unidentified persons broke into her residence while she was there with her two children. She was violently beaten to the point of unconsciousness and was admitted to the hospital with a concussion.
The Observatory recalls that Mr. Dyryldaev has been living and working for the banned KCHR in exile since May 26, 2003, as a consequence of serious threats against him following his re-election as chairman of the Committee. On August 25, 2003, three former members of KCHR, Messrs. Tynaliev, Mombekov, and Jakishev announced in a press conference that they were dismissing Mr. Dyryldaev as (re-elected) chairman and instituting Mr. Tynaliev in his place. No acting members or board members of KCHR had participated in this decision or this conference. Despite the official government registration of KCHR with Messrs. Tynaliev, Jakishev and Bulatov as the executive body, human rights organizations such as the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, as well as FIDH and OMCT, have refused to recognize this new leadership.
Active members of the “real” KCHR have long endured threats, acts of harassment and campaigns of defamation because of their activity in favour of human rights and democracy in Kyrgyzstan. The repeated judicial complaints lodged since 1997 by Mr. Eliseev, a former collaborator of the KCHR fired for repeated absences, have been part of this strategy of harassment orchestrated by the authorities. Most recently, on September 21, 2004, legal executive Mr. T. A. Umurkulov passed on to the KCHR the ruling on the institution of executive proceedings and charges regarding writs of execution which were issued by the Bishkek city court and the Pervomaikyi rayon court of Bishkek city. The ruling stipulated that, on the basis of the decisions issued on January 12, July 13, October 8, 2001 and February 19, 2002, based on the complaints of Mr. Eliseev A. V. against the KCHR, the Committee must pay a sum of 5,276.50 US$. This ruling alledgedly aimed to paralyse financially the human rights activities of the KCHR, on the eve of the local elections in October 2004.
Action requested :
Please write to the Kyrgyz authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Aitbaeva, her husband and their children;
ii. put an immediate end to all forms of harassments against the KCHR and its members, and more generally, against Kyrgyz human rights defenders;
iii. conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 which provides that “every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level.”
iv. conform more generally with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with the other international instruments binding Kyrgyzstan.
Addresses:
Paris – Geneva, November 11, 2004
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch
New Information
KGZ 002 / 0803 / OBS 044.5
Physical attack
Kyrgyzstan
November 11, 2004
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of FIDH and OMCT, has received new information concerning the following situation in Kyrgyzstan and requests your urgent intervention.
New Information:
The Observatory has been informed by the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR) that Mrs. Ainura Aitbaeva, the daughter of the Committee’s chairman, Mr. Ramazan Dyryldaev, has again been the object of a physical attack.
According to the information received, as Mrs. Aitbaeva and her husband were walking home around 5 p.m. on November 4, 2004, a dark blue BMW vehicle started moving into their direction. When they realized the car was getting closer, her husband pushed Mrs. Aitbaeva to the side as the car slightly touched her and threw himself over a fence. Then the car hit the fence and moved to her direction as she was lying on the floor. At this moment they started running and finally entered a courtyard and closed the entrance door behind them.
Mrs. Aitbaeva later declared that there seemed to be two men inside the car, who looked similar to those who had attacked her and her children in July 2004 (see background information below). Before driving away, one of the men got out of the car for a moment, and voiced some invectives. Mrs. Aitbaeva then decided she and her children should remain hidden.
According to information from KCHR, the incident was not registered at a “militia” (police) department, as they fear that no investigation would follow. Indeed, Mrs. Aitbaeva had gone to the Sverdlovsk District Department of Internal Affairs (ROVD) immediately after leaving the hospital, on July 15, following the first attack on July 3, 2004. Law enforcement officers have refused to conduct an investigation although the harm she had suffered was evident, including a report from the hospital. The officials, who treated her in a rough manner, declared that their refusal to investigate was due to the fact that she is the daughter of Mr. Dyryldaev, who had criticized the President.
According to the information received, on October 26, 2003, after a telephone call from the United States embassy in Kyrgyzstan, the inspector from Sverdlovsk ROVD, Mr. Kasymaliev, had called her around 9 a.m. to inform that they were compelled to open a criminal case on the attack of July 3, 2004, as the international organizations had put pressure upon the ministries, but despite this fact no investigation would be undertaken.
According to KCHR, Mrs. Aitbaeva’s husband, Mr. Aitbaev Murat, himself a law enforcement officer at OGAI (Oblast state car inspection) of the Department of Internal Affairs of Bishkek, had been fired on June 12, 2003 due to his father-in-law’s activities. Since then he has remained unemployed.
Background information:
On July 3, 2004, Mrs. Aitbaeva Ainura, the daughter of Mr. Dyryldaev, had been attacked at her home. Unidentified persons broke into her residence while she was there with her two children. She was violently beaten to the point of unconsciousness and was admitted to the hospital with a concussion.
The Observatory recalls that Mr. Dyryldaev has been living and working for the banned KCHR in exile since May 26, 2003, as a consequence of serious threats against him following his re-election as chairman of the Committee. On August 25, 2003, three former members of KCHR, Messrs. Tynaliev, Mombekov, and Jakishev announced in a press conference that they were dismissing Mr. Dyryldaev as (re-elected) chairman and instituting Mr. Tynaliev in his place. No acting members or board members of KCHR had participated in this decision or this conference. Despite the official government registration of KCHR with Messrs. Tynaliev, Jakishev and Bulatov as the executive body, human rights organizations such as the Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, as well as FIDH and OMCT, have refused to recognize this new leadership.
Active members of the “real” KCHR have long endured threats, acts of harassment and campaigns of defamation because of their activity in favour of human rights and democracy in Kyrgyzstan. The repeated judicial complaints lodged since 1997 by Mr. Eliseev, a former collaborator of the KCHR fired for repeated absences, have been part of this strategy of harassment orchestrated by the authorities. Most recently, on September 21, 2004, legal executive Mr. T. A. Umurkulov passed on to the KCHR the ruling on the institution of executive proceedings and charges regarding writs of execution which were issued by the Bishkek city court and the Pervomaikyi rayon court of Bishkek city. The ruling stipulated that, on the basis of the decisions issued on January 12, July 13, October 8, 2001 and February 19, 2002, based on the complaints of Mr. Eliseev A. V. against the KCHR, the Committee must pay a sum of 5,276.50 US$. This ruling alledgedly aimed to paralyse financially the human rights activities of the KCHR, on the eve of the local elections in October 2004.
Action requested :
Please write to the Kyrgyz authorities urging them to:
i. guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mrs. Aitbaeva, her husband and their children;
ii. put an immediate end to all forms of harassments against the KCHR and its members, and more generally, against Kyrgyz human rights defenders;
iii. conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, in particular its article 1 which provides that “every person has the right, individually or collectively, to promote the protection and fulfilment of human rights and fundamental liberties at the national and international level.”
iv. conform more generally with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with the other international instruments binding Kyrgyzstan.
Addresses:
- Mr Askar Akayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic, 720003 g. Bishkek, Prospekt Chuy, 205, Kyrgyzskaya Respublika, Fax: 996 312 218 627, Email: ghpress2@rhl.bishkek.su
- Mr. Nikolai Tanaev, Prime Minister, Fax: 996 312 218 627
- Mr. Kurmanbek Osmonov, Minister of Justice, Fax: 996 312 663 044
- Mr. Bakirdin Subanbekov, Minister of the Interior, Fax: +996 312 663–031/ +996 312 288–788
- Ambassador Shaimergenova Zeinep, Permanent Mission of the Kyrgyz Republic to the United Nations, Rue Maunoir 26, 1207 Genève, Switzerland, Fax : +41 (0)22 707–9221; E-mail: kyrgyzmission@bluewin.ch
Paris – Geneva, November 11, 2004
Kindly inform the Observatory of any action undertaken quoting the code number of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, an FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need.
The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
Tel and fax: FIDH : +33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT : (+ 41 22) 809 49 39 / 809 49 29
E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch