A longtime human rights defender and political activist in Kyrgyzstan has gone missing, Human Rights Watch said today.
Tursunbek Akunov was last seen by his wife around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 16. His wife, Gulia Japarovna, told Human Rights Watch that when he left the house he told her that he had been called to a meeting by an officer from the National Security Services (NSS, formerly the KGB), whom he was going to meet in central Bishkek. Akunov did not return home that evening and has been missing now for three days.
“We’re still hoping for the best, but we fear for his safety and that he may be in government custody,” said Rachel Denber, acting executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “We urge the Kyrgyz authorities to find Akunov and assure his safety.”
NSS officials have denied that they arranged a meeting with Akunov or had anything to do with his disappearance. The NSS spokesperson, Chinara Asanova, denied the agency’s involvement in Akunov’s disappearance and said that no one from the agency had summoned him to a meeting. A senior NSS official also reportedly denied the agency’s involvement when he met with rights defender Tolekan Ismailova on Thursday.
Officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs also said they did not have Akunov in custody. A local police department vowed it would open an investigation into his disappearance.
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| Tursunbek Akunov ©Copyright 2004 Human Rights Watch |
“The investigation has to be thorough. It should consider the possibility that the unexplained disappearance of Akunov is linked to his human rights and political activism,” said Denber. “The international community in Kyrgyzstan should help to ensure this.”
Akunov was scheduled to fly to Kiev on the evening of Wednesday, November 17 to be part of a delegation monitoring elections in Ukraine. His wife reported that his airplane tickets and passport remain at home.
Akunov, an independent rights defender, is head of the Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan. He is also a prominent political activist and stood as a candidate for president in 2000. He recently joined the newly-formed People’s Patriotic Movement of Kyrgyzstan (PPMK).
The PPMK has been campaigning publicly for the early resignation of President Askar Akaev. On the day he went missing, Akunov was apparently gathering signatures for a petition calling for President Akaev’s resignation outside the main department store in downtown Bishkek. According to a person close to him, Akunov was also in the process of organizing a large protest to be held the next morning, November 17, calling for President Akaev’s resignation.
“Some government officials have tremendous hostility toward Akunov,” said Denber. “Many resent his persistent public criticism of government policy and relentless advocacy for basic human rights principles.”
Over the years, police have repeatedly detained and fined Akunov for his participation in peaceful public protests. According to fellow rights defenders, just a week before he went missing, Akunov had organized a series of protests against the government’s privatization of the energy sector and had also recently called for the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission.
In a well-documented incident, Akunov was detained in March 2002 when he tried to calm a stand-off between police and protestors in the southern Kyrgyz district of Aksy demanding the release from custody of their parliamentary representative, Azimbek Beknazarov. The demonstrators demanded that police release Akunov and allegedly began throwing stones. Without giving the protesters sufficient time to disband, the police opened fire, killing five protesters and seriously wounding dozens more.
In an apparent effort to shift the blame from the officers responsible for the killings, then-Minister of Internal Affairs Temirbek Akhmataliev blamed Akunov publicly for the five deaths. Akunov filed a defamation suit against Akhmataliev in response, but withdrew it when the minister formally apologized.
Rights defenders and other civil society actors have been under attack by the Akaev government in recent years.
