18 police officers of the Department of Internal Affairs of Batken region were punished for harsh methods of conducting interrogations. This was reported to the public by the Ombudsman Institute. However, later, the Department issued a rebuttal saying that the employees were punished for illegal possession of items. The Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic called this an attempt to conceal the true reasons for the punishment of policemen.
On March 28, the detained blogger filed a complaint about violating the law, as she wasn’t given a summons, but was immediately taken away from the city of Razzakov and brought to a temporary detention center in the city of Batken.
A couple of weeks later, on April 12, she tried to cut her veins, explaining this by the pressure exerted on her. Her lawyer, Nazgul Suyunbayeva, told the media that the head of the detention center was putting pressure on her. After this incident, Ombudsman Atyr Abdrakhmatova took control of this story and sent an official request to the Prosecutor General’s Office asking to take action against employees of the Department of Internal Affairs of Batken region.
According to the results of an internal investigation conducted by the Regional Department of Internal Affairs, a number of employees of the Department of Internal Affairs of Batken region were punished. Namely, 11 policemen received reprimands, another 5 police officers were severely reprimanded, and one of the senior staff was dismissed.
However, later, the press service of the Department of Internal Affairs of Batken region issued a refutation, which stated that the punishment of the above-mentioned policemen wasn’t related to the case of the blogger Batmakan Zholbolduyeva.
“This refutation is an attempt to conceal the true reasons for bringing them to justice,” says the Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan.
On the night of March 26, at the age of 37, the correspondent of AKIpress Arzygul Galymbetova died. According to her relatives, the journalist was taken to the hospital the night before due to a sharp deterioration in her health. During the night, she had a cardiac arrest.
Later, the police reported that a criminal case was opened on this fact under Article 127 “Causing death by negligence” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, under which Batmakan Zholbolduyeva was detained, because Arzygul Galymbetova, as it turned out, applied to the police with a statement against the blogger on March 25. The City Court of Osh took her into custody until May 26.
