style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">The hunger strike involving 362
people all over Kyrgyzstan continues despite the fact that its main sources of
inspiration, human rights activist Tursunbek Akunov and leader of Coalition of NGOs for
democracy and civil society Tolekan Ismailova, quit the strike on its 15th day.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Their decision mainly came as an answer to a
request by twenty-four NGOs to stop torturing themselves when this is unlikely to impact
on government authorities.
style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">Going on hunger-strike was the last
resort of the desperate opposition after the arrest of deputy Azimbek Beknazarov who is
accused of not instituting proceedings against an individual accused of homicide several
years ago. The opposition claims that the case is of a political nature and that the main
reason for Beknazarov's arrest was his initiative to impeach President Akaev for
surrendering 90,000 hectares of land to China in 1999. The main demand of the strikers is
the release of Beknazarov on the pledge of one of the members of a special Public
Committee on Border Issues, or his written undertaking, not to leave the country. However,
there was no reaction from the authorities despite the fact that in Beknazarov's native
Jalalabad region three schools were empty because parents did not allow their children to
go to school in protest; there were pickets near the Jogorku Kenesh (the Parliament) going
on for weeks; and each day, increasing numbers of people around the country joined the
hunger strike. Some deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh also supported the protest and decided
to meet with concerned citizens outside the Parliament building. On that day it was
impossible to reach the Old Square of the city where the meeting was supposed to take
place. The Militia was at every corner and students of the American University in
Kyrgyzstan, which is located on this square, were unable to get through. Hundreds of
people wanted to hear what popular deputies Omurbek Tekebaev, Alevtina Pronenko, Adaham
Madumarov and Absamat Masaliev had to say. Around thirty people managed to reach the
square to listen to the speeches and asking questions until the Militia broke up the
rally. The deputies were accused of deliberate disruption of the Jogorku Kenesh session.
style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">In other regions of Kyrgyzstan,
picketers and strikers are threatened by imprisonment if they do not quit the strike.
Government authorities are pressuring the Jalalabad electorate of Beknazarov to sign a
petition affirming his incompetence in order to deprive him of his parliamentary seat.
style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">Despite its duration of two weeks,
the strike went almost unnoticed. Four of the strikers were hospitalized. The majority of
the main figures participating in the strike being in their 40s and 50s and in bad health,
the hunger strike may be hazardous to their health. The youngest striker is 19 and the
oldest is 72 years old. At one point, a government official showed up and invited them to
a restaurant. Being aware that strikers are losing their
strength, twenty-three NGOs wrote an open letter to the strikers asking them
to quit. Two days after that, seven known public figures who according to the letter
"are needed in good health to continue struggling for democracy and human
rights" stopped the hunger strike. Other people, however, took their places, and the
hunger strike goes on. Everyone is waiting for the court hearing on the Beknazarov case,
which the opposition hopes will be fair and transparent.
style="mso-fareast-font-family:"MS Mincho"">As Assistant U.S. Secretary of State
Elizabeth Jones mentioned in her recent meeting with students of the American University
in Kyrgyzstan, the U.S. is aware of the human rights violations and the hunger strike in
Kyrgyzstan and noted that she took up the Beknazarov case in her meeting with President
Akaev. The international community is aware, but the Kyrgyz government authorities do not
seem to change their policy in this case.
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face="Lucida Bright">Anna Kirey