The Bishkek branch of Amnesty International
was established in September 1999. It involves about twenty students from American
University in Kyrgyzstan along with other students from Bishkek University of Humanities
and Kyrgyz-Russian Slavonic University. The coordinator of the group, and also its founder
is Ari Katz, a teacher and Coordinator of Student Affairs at American
University--Kyrgyzstan. Despite being such a young group, Amnesty International-Kyrgyzstan
in a short period of time has accomplished a great deal. The members have sent appeals to
the governments of the United States of America, Egypt, Myanmar, Indonesia, Paraguay,
Columbia, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and China.
On October 15, 1999 members protested in front of the Belarus Embassy in Bishkek to
express their concern about the fate of Mikhail Chigir, the former Prime Minister of
Belarus and now prominent opposition leader, who was arrested on March 30, 1999 shortly
before the presidential elections. Three members of the group were accepted by the First
Secretary of the Belarus Embassy, Fyodor Plotnikov, to whom they forwarded letters
addressed to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko urging him to release Chigir. Chigir
is a recognized prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, the OSCE, European Union
and the US Department of State that recognized that Chigir was detained because of his
political beliefs and demand his immediate release. Thanks to international pressure
including millions of Amnesty International members, Mikhail Chigir was conditionally
released in November 1999, after spending eight months in prison.
The Bishkek members are forwarding a strong message to governments around the world
insisting that these governments respect the equal and unalienable human rights of every
person. To Kyrgyzstan's neighbor Uzbekistan, the members voiced their concerns about the
death sentences imposed on Arsen Arutyuyan and Danis Sirazhev, two singers in
"Al-Vakil", an Uzbek pop group. The two men were charged with the April 1998
murder of Laylo Aliyeva, another singer. Arutyunyan and Sirazhev were arrested on 3 June
1999 in Tashkent. On 3 November they were sentenced to death, despite concerns that they
confessed as a consequence of torture. As a result of letters from Amnesty
International’s worldwide members, the Uzbek government commuted the death penalty,
though Arutyunyan and Sirazhev have not been released.
On 10 December 1999, Amnesty International--Kyrgyzstan celebrated Human Rights Day. The
members gathered on the Old Square in Bishkek and in the light of tens of candles read
aloud the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Most of Amnesty
International--Kyrgyzstan's members are American University-Kyrgyzstan students who
studied either in the United States or Great Britain through ACCELS or Soros programs.
After nine months of active work, Amnesty International-Kyrgyzstan has been recently
awarded the status of an official Amnesty International local group by the International
Secretariat of Amnesty International, London. Now they officially represent the movement
in Bishkek and are responsible for continuous work on behalf of people worldwide whose
human rights have been violated. The active members of Amnesty International in Kyrgyzstan
are contributing to Kyrgyzstani society by demonstrating how to organize for human rights
and how to work democratically, something that is particularly important in the former
USSR where there is no tradition of independent volunteer groups.
Elnura Osmonalieva, Student, Department of Journalism, American
University-Kyrgyzstan.