Kyrgyzstan wants to adopt a law on wiretapping of citizens without a court decision

The Committee of the Parliament of the republic on International Affairs, Defense, Security and Migration considered amendments to the Law “On National Security bodies”. The initiator of the changes was the State Committee for National Security.

In particular, amendments to the current law provide for the possibility of installing wiretapping and hidden video cameras on private property by law enforcement agencies without a court decision.

Not all deputies positively accepted the initiative of the State Committee, moreover, some of them stated that the proposed norms contradict the Constitution, which refers to the inviolability of personal life.

We are talking about Article 11 of this bill, it reads as follows: phone tapping, installation of cameras on private territory is carried out with a reasoned decision of an official of law enforcement agencies.

According to MP Aibek Osmonov, this contradicts Article 29 of the basic law of the state, which stipulates that law enforcement agencies can obtain such powers only with the permission of the court.

Another deputy, Adakhan Madumarov, was of the same opinion as his colleague in this matter. He proposed to reject the bill referring to the norms of the Constitution.

“This bill directly states, “We can secretly record, film, photograph you, and if necessary, even more.” You cannot do it this way. The honor of a person, his correspondence and conversations should be protected,” the people’s deputy was indignant.

After the subsequent remark that, if adopted, the law will work against parliamentarians, it becomes clear that the deputy is more worried about his immunity. However, human rights activists are seriously afraid.

True, after replicating that the law will work against parliamentarians in adoption, it becomes clear that the deputy is transplanting more for his immunity. But human rights activists are seriously afraid.

“Today the world has changed, it’s necessary to understand this. We have long moved away from those methods when people were persecuted and kept under total control. Kyrgyzstan should show high standards of management and governance in Central Asia. The power structures must be reformed. We know that both Russia and China have technologies, for example, video cameras, that allow not only to recognize a person, but to obtain comprehensive information about him/her. However, Kyrgyzstan must go its own way and adhere to the principles of respect for human dignity, human rights and freedoms. I believe that wiretapping and covert filming without court permission are dirty technologies. We saw how they work on the example of Temirov Live team. I think the President of Kyrgyzstan, who himself suffered from the repressions of the former regime, will not allow the adoption of such a scandalous law,” Tolekan Ismailova, head of the human rights organization “One World (Bir Duino)”, told ACCA.

Despite the danger of amendments to the draft law “On National Security bodies”, the deputies nevertheless adopted the document in the first reading, but on the condition that it will be amended by parliamentarians.

Rustam Mamasadykov, deputy head of the State Committee for National Security, promised that they would be presented with an already finalized document in the second reading. However, it’s not clear which norms will be removed from it and which ones will be left.