Kyrgyzstan: arrested activist accused the President of bribery of voters

Before the early presidential elections, Sadyr Japarov received $ 10 million from Sooronbai Jeenbekov and his brother Asylbek Jeenbekov. This was stated in the letter of the activist Melis Aspekov, who is in the detention center of the State Committee for National Security. The document was posted on his Facebook page.

According to Aspekov, after the events of October 2020, he began to demand that Sadyr Japarov fulfill his election promises.

“I demanded the denunciation of the agreement concerning Kumtor, the nationalization of 50 % of the shares of the company developing the field of Jerui, the adoption of a law on lustration, the fight against corruption, especially in the energy sector and the State Customs Service, to put an end to the plane crash in Dacha, to involve responsibility of the Jeenbekovs. Sadyr Japarov promised that everything would be done after the elections, and invited me to lead the pre-election headquarters in Chui region,” says Melis Aspekov.

According to the arrested activist, $ 1 million was allocated to the headquarters in Chui region for the election campaign.

“Japarov said that he needed a trusted person to control the expenses of the headquarters. He noted that if he doesn’t win the race, he will be jailed, so he must win in the first round. During the campaign, Sadyr Japarov personally gave me $ 1 million, dividing it into three parts. To prove my words, I publish copies of passports and receipts of money by the district coordinators,” writes Melis Aspekov.

He notes that $ 1 million in cash is only a fraction of the costs. In addition, Aspekov wrote that Sadyr Japarov’s headquarters didn’t indicate the real amount of expenses for the elections and paid taxes only from the amount of 40 million KGS, although much more was spent.

It’s worth noting that, being a member of Sadyr Japarov’s inner circle, Melis Aspekov himself, prior to his arrest, had never publicly voiced the demands that he wrote about in his letter from the pre-trial detention center of the State Committee for National Security.

Later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that a pre-trial investigation was launched under the article “Bribery of voters” based on the publication of activist Melis Aspekov on Facebook (now this post has already been removed – ed.) that bribery of votes took place in the presidential election.

According to the Department, “on this fact, in order to establish the truth, the necessary investigative measures are being taken.”

Aspekov’s statement was commented on by representatives of Sadyr Japarov and Sooronbai Jeenbekov. The ex-president’s lawyer announced Jeenbekov’s intention to sue the activist for libel. The press secretary of Japarov called Aspekov’s statements “blatant lies and slander”.

“Nobody took his statement seriously, just at the level of rumors. Our people are accustomed to evidence, but in this case there is no evidence, only an unsubstantiated statement. Even the fact, that at one time Aspekov was close to Japarov and could only theoretically know about such facts, doesn’t give his words value. Currently, he is being held in a criminal case on the fact of extortion. This discredits him in the eyes of the public,” political scientist Bakyt Baketayev commented on Aspekov’s case to ACCA.

In his opinion, there is no logic in the words of Melis Aspekov

“It’s not clear why Jeenbekov should sponsor Japarov’s election campaign. He clearly didn’t want to leave his post, he had quite a lot of plans. Probably, Japarov could give Jeenbekov money so that he could easily leave. However, this is just at the level of reflection,” the expert explained his position.

He noted that by the time of the elections, Sadyr Japarov didn’t need to have large financial resources.

“He [Japarov] didn’t need much. The fact is that the people have already been to rouse themselves. Tashiev and Japarov enlisted the support of the Parliament at the right time, and this gave them the opportunity to come to power. The more influential people in the square were cajoled with temporary high positions. So, Japarov didn’t need a lot of money to win,” the political scientist says.

In addition, he noted that the current mistakes of Sadyr Japarov in the presidency are the result of the accident of his coming to power.

“I think Japarov himself didn’t expect to become President. This is indicated by his personnel policy, the jumping vector and the technical mistakes made in management,” summed up Baketayev.

In January 2021, the State Committee for National Security detained activists Melis Aspekov and Ulan Dzhuraev. According to the investigation, they extorted money in the amount of $ 250,000 under the threat of an inspection of the work of the state enterprise “Kyrgyz Temir Zholu” by the State Service for Combating Economic Crimes and the organization of rallies against the enterprise’s administration.

In the same month, Dzhuraev was released under house arrest after the conclusion of a deal with the investigation. Aspekov was left in custody.