Kyrgyzstan: Political analyst’s death deepens mistrust in security services
Kazakbayev's wife says he was tortured by investigators; the security services deny this.
Late last week, a well-known fixture on Kyrgyzstan’s political analyst scene, Marat Kazakbayev, was moved from the detention facility in which he had been languishing on treason charges for more than a year to a hospital for urgent treatment.
Two days later, on June 11, Kazakbayev died from a hemorrhagic stroke. He was 56.
Kazakbayev’s death has been greeted with widespread disgust among many on the political scene. The reason for his arrest in April 2021 still remains a mystery. The entire affair is further eroding what little trust many government critics had in the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB.
After Kazakbayev died, his wife, Anar, told reporters that she was not allowed to attend her husband’s court hearings because they purportedly involved matters of national security. The analyst’s lawyers had repeatedly asked for their client to be placed under house arrest, but the petitions were rejected out of hand. The GKNB said last year that it had “irrefutable evidence” to back up its suspicions, but it divulged no details.
Kazakbayeva says she believes that the GKNB’s treatment of her husband was tantamount to torture and that the agency is responsible for his death. Kazakbayev relayed to her that interrogating investigators threatened to beat him and shone a bright light into his eyes so insistently that it left him vision-impaired, the analyst’s wife has said.
“Investigators threatened that they would take him to the [gangster wing in prison], that he would be beaten, raped and tortured if he didn’t sign a confession,” Kazakbayeva said. “They made him sign a blank sheet of paper.”
The GKNB insists that it provided Kazakbayev with all necessary medical treatment. They were not able to explain how, if that was the case, he came to fall ill while in their custody, having been of apparently good health beforehand.
On June 14, opposition politician Ravshan Jeenbekov was categorical in pinning the blame for the death on the head of the GKNB, Kamchybek Tashiyev.
“Kamchy, if you are a man, tender your resignation for the death of Kazakbayev within the walls of the GKNB,” he said. “The man who has died on GKNB premises was a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. We in the opposition demand that the GKNB head resign at least for the duration of an investigation.”
In an interview to journalist Leila Saralayeva, Tashiyev signaled no willingness to entertain such demands. The case against Kazakbayev had no political undertones and had been initiated in 2019, before the current president, Sadyr Japarov, came to power, Tashiyev said.
Tashiyev also denied the accusations that the 56-year-old had been tortured before his death.
“When they say that some kind of torture was used against Kazakbayev, this is a lie. This has never happened and never will,” he said.
It is now Jeenbekov that may end up in trouble. The GKNB on June 14 summoned him for questioning and issued him an official warning. The politician said he had been threatened with a criminal charge.
On the same day, the security services issued a warning to another opposition-linked figure, Kanat Kanimetov, a journalist with the April TV channel. Over the weekend, the journalist wrote on Facebook that Kazakbayev had been “murdered” on GKNB grounds.
“Kanimetov’s unfounded statements may provoke citizens to commit unconstitutional actions,” the GKNB said in a statement.
Tolekan Ismailova, director of the Bir Duino rights group, told Eurasianet on June 14 that she believes Kazakbayev’s death will worsen the standing of the government in the eyes of the international community and Kyrgyz citizens alike.
“The death of Kazakbayev shows that the government of Kyrgyzstan is not committed to humane values,” Ismailova said.
Ayzirek Imanaliyeva is a journalist based in Bishkek.
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