Yrys Zhekshenaliev, the admin of the Polit Uznik Facebook community, was detained in Bishkek. The 19-year-old blogger is charged with the article “Mass riots” of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
On August 14, President Sadyr Japarov instructed law enforcement agencies to “bring to order false patriots and liars” in connection with the dissemination of false information about the development of the Zhetim-Too iron ore deposit.
In the evening of the same day, Yrys Zhekshenaliev was taken to the police station. He was interrogated for several hours in the investigative service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then handed a notice of suspicion. He is suspected of calling for active disobedience to the legitimate demands of government officials and riots. This is a grave accusation. If the court finds him guilty, he faces five to eight years in prison.
The detention is related to the video of the former chairman of the State Committee for National Security Abdil Segizbayev, which Yrys Zhekshenaliev published on the Polit Uznik Facebook page moderated by him. In the two-minute video, Abdil Segizbayev criticizes the authorities over the development of the Zhetim-Too field and says he opposes it.
On the day Yryskeldi Zhekshenaliev was detained, Abdil Segizbaev himself was interrogated at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“The specified video was published as part of the election campaign during the presidential elections in the Kyrgyz Republic two years ago, the video was not shown in full, it was edited and the question about the development of Zhetim-Too was taken out of the context of Abdil Segizbaev’s speech, which distorts the meaning and content of the speech,” told reporters lawyer of the former chairman of the State Committee for National Security Kaysyn Abakirov.
On August 16, the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek chose a measure of restraint for the activist – Yryskeldi Zhekshenaliev was taken into custody for two months.
His lawyer, Chyngyz Ibraev, told reporters that he intends to file an appeal against the first instance decision with the Bishkek City Court and seek a change in the measure of restraint for his client. According to him, the investigator petitioned the court for the conclusion of the blogger in a pre-trial detention center, and the representative of the prosecutor’s office supported this decision.
“Within five days, we will appeal to the next instance, as we do not agree with this court decision. Yrys Zhekshenaliev did not call for riots,” the lawyer promised.
The arrest of Zhekshenaliev was criticized by the public. Thus, MP Dastan Bekeshev considered that there was no call for a mass seizure of power. He shared this opinion on his Telegram channel.
“You can be silent – it’s more comfortable that way. But still, Yrys Zhekshenaliev is only 19 years old. Power made him popular through his messages. The guy just wrote on his Facebook about the Zhetim-Too, which belongs to the son of the president, and he is being charged with such a harsh accusation that he called for a mass seizure of power, the violent overthrow of the constitutional order – this is such nonsense, to be honest. I did not find such appeals in these messages, I found criticism,” the deputy said.
Bekeshev believes that the court should not have imprisoned the blogger and brought such harsh charges against him, because even adults make mistakes.
The Media Policy Institute also criticized the arrest of the blogger. A message appeared on the organization’s website that, by making heavy accusations against activists, the authorities simply “seek to destroy public discussion on topics that concern society.”
“We believe that, in essence, the charge under the specified criminal article (part 3 of article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic) looks like persecution for criticizing the authorities. And this is the third such criminal case since the beginning of 2022, which is known to the public: criminal cases are currently at different stages of criminal proceedings against two other civil activists Uraimov Mirlan and Myktybek Adilet Ali. The above citizens, as well as 19-year-old Yrys Zhekshenaliev, are being prosecuted for various publications on social networks, where citizens actively criticized and expressed their civic positions regarding the decisions made by the authorities,” the authors of the appeal write.
Representatives of the IMP point out that the accusation against the activist is unfounded and illegal on the following grounds:
- if there are no calls for these actions in publications, then it is impossible to apply this article of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic;
- in the theory of criminal law, the objective side of this crime is expressed in the calls of the rioters to actively disobey the demands of the authorities and (or) to continue the riots, as well as in calls for violence against citizens.
“We want to remind that the call to go to peaceful rallies and demonstrations cannot constitute a crime of incitement to mass riots or active disobedience to the lawful demands of government officials, since participation in a peaceful rally and, accordingly, calling for it is a constitutional right of every citizen of the country. The presence of inaccurate information in the publication cannot be grounds for criminal liability,” the lawyers explain.
The IMP called for an immediate end to criminal prosecutions against activists in custody in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
Yesterday, on August 18, it became known that a search was conducted in the house of the detained civil activist Yrys Zhekshenaliev. The Telegram channel “Bashta” published a video in which scattered items are visible. The author of the video says that the search was carried out at 18.20.
It should be noted that the Polit Uznik Facebook page was opened in May 2020. At the moment, 12 thousand 434 users have subscribed to it. Yryskeldi Zhekshenaliev has been moderating this page for the last year and a half. Basically, this profile published posts critical of the authorities and information about imprisoned politicians.
Yryskeldi Zhekshenaliev has become actively involved in public affairs in the last two years. On social networks, he published his statements, where he criticized the authorities. In 2019, he was interrogated as a witness about the events in Koi-Tash. He also published information about the entrepreneur and civil activist Ilgiz Shamenov, who actively opposes the development of the Zhetim-Too deposit.
