Kyrgyzstan: blogger left country due to government persecution

Blogger Yulia Barabina left Kyrgyzstan in mid-February. In an interview with local media, she said that the main reason for this act was fears for her life in connection with the persecution by the authorities.

On February 3, officers of the State Committee for National Security raided the houses of blogger Yulia Barabina and several employees of Abdil Segizbayev’s campaign headquarters in the early presidential elections.

As Barabina told reporters, during the search, “not the most expensive cell phones and two old laptops, as well as about 160,000 KGS (funds from the sale of the dacha) were seized”. Then the woman was taken away for interrogation to the State Committee for National Security, where she was interrogated for more than 8 hours.

The reason for the searches and interrogations became known after the Kyrgyz journalist Kanat Kanimetov published on his Facebook page a copy of the resolution of Pervomaisky District Court, which announced the petition of the SCNS officers.

The intelligence officers justified the need for the search by the fact that Barabina, Asanova and her husband publish “provocative materials aimed at inciting ethnic and regional hatred, as well as encouraging citizens to violent actions” in the group “Pravdorub.kg” on Facebook.

The decision stated that the investigator “has fears that certain items, documents and electronic devices, that are important for the case, may be damaged or destroyed.”

As Yulia Barabina stated, the page “Pravdorub.kg” is her author’s project, and was created about two years ago as an analytical resource dedicated to politics, economy and social life of Kyrgyzstan and “has never been the mouthpiece of a particular party or politician”.

She noted that for her, the blog was an opportunity to express her own opinion and perfect her journalistic skill. She noted that any “adequate journalists and lawyers” can confirm that she has never called for violence or incited ethnic hatred.

The blogger told the media that the provocative commentary, which became the basis for her persecution by the security forces, appeared on Pravdorub.kg after a series of critical articles on the biography and activities of Sadyr Japarov, at that time a presidential candidate and now the current head of state.

Recently, the activities of Yulia Barabina were associated with Abdil Segizbayev, the former head of the State Committee for National Security, who headed the department during the presidency of Almazbek Atambaev.

Segizbayev ran in the presidential elections that took place in the republic on January 10, 2021. During TV debates, he stated that Sadyr Japarov, who, incidentally, didn’t participate in the discussion, was associated with fugitive former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Also, the former head of the State Committee for National Security claimed that he could prove this connection.

Blogger Yulia Barabina claimed that she didn’t work at Segizbayev’s headquarters during the elections, but she knows his employees and openly supported the opposition.

Abdil Segizbayev was detained on January 25 and taken into custody in the SCNS pre-trial detention center until March 25. The Military Prosecutor’s Office reported that he was being prosecuted under article 320 (“Abuse of official position”) of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. It concerns the Belizgate scandal, which erupted in November 2016. Abdil Segizbayev, being the head of the State Committee for National Security, presented to the Parliament the documents, which were allegedly received from the state of Belize, according to which the deputy of the party “Ata Meken” [“Fatherland”] Omurbek Tekebaev and the main opponent of the then President Almazbek Atambaev, and also some members of his party were involved in an illegal attempt to sell the controlling block of shares of Megacom in 2010 (author: shortly after the April Revolution in the Kyrgyz Republic).

In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported that six criminal cases are being investigated against Abdil Segizbayev, two of them relate to the proceedings around the plots in the village of Tash-Moynok of Alamudun district and the issue of overseas business trips of certain leaders of the State Committee for National Security in 2017 at the expense of the state budget.

To date, Yulia Barabina became the first person, after the events of October 2020, who publicly declared her forced flight from the country in connection with the persecution.

The lawyers of the Media Policy Institute gave a legal assessment of what happened to the blogger.

The organization’s conclusion says that “Criminal procedural legislation doesn’t prohibit searches of persons with the status of a witness; however, there must be good reasons for conducting a search, especially for the seizure of technical equipment, and moreover money.”

“In accordance with the requirements of part 1 of article 205 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, the investigator had to provide the investigating judge with sufficient evidence, so that it could be assumed that in the apartment of the witness Yulia Barabina, there were some instruments of crime, objects, documents and valuables that would be important for the case. A search of house is a compulsory measure to restrict human rights and can be applied only if necessary. However, all posts, comments, Pravdorub.kg page itself are in the public domain. If, on the basis of this information, a statement is registered under article 313 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, it’s not clear what documents the investigation tried to find during the search.”

“What information was indicated by the investigator in the petition, which would prove the fact of the crime committed by Barabina? What value could her personal things have if the information, which, in the investigator’s opinion, was inciting ethnic and regional hatred, was in the public domain? What evidence could have been obtained on the basis of confiscated items?” human rights defenders ask.

Lawyers also called the legality and validity of the search and seizure of Barabina’s property doubtful.

“She has the right to appeal to the judicial authorities against the actions of the pre-trial proceedings, and also to apply to the court for compensation for moral damage caused by officials,” the Media Policy Institute believes.

In addition, human rights activists called on the pre-trial authorities to provide expanded information on the reasons for the search, seizure of property and the results of investigative actions, and, in particular, explain whether Barabina’s involvement in the commission of the offense has been established.