Hivos partner Tolekan Ismailova under severe threat
Hivos is concerned about the personal safety of Kyrgyz human rights defender Tolekan Ismailova, the chairwoman of Hivos partner ‘Citizens Against Corruption.'
Interrogation
Tolekan Ismailova has been subjected to interrogation and intimidation, following her monitoring work of the human rights situation in the South of Kyrgyzstan in the wake of the violence. On top of this, Ms Ismailova received a warning about her assassination being planned. There are reasons to believe that she in fact escaped an assassination attack during her mission in the South of Kyrgyzstan.
A series of nasty events took place in Osh on June 28th, the day after the national referendum on constitutional reform, on June 27th. The interrogation by the general prosecutor of Osh took place after www.24.kg had published the news that 20 people had been killed during military operations in Nariman on June, 21st. The article cited Tolekan Ismailova as one of the sources. The general prosecutor interrogated the human rights defender as witness, but was in fact trying to accuse her of spreading false information and creating mass disorder. This is what happened to Azimjan Askarov, a human rights defender who has been charged with organisation of mass disorder and who is currently detained in Bazar Korgon.
Intimidation
At the same day, a group of unknown men had approached Tolekan Ismailova’s car and told her and her travel companions that they were not welcome in Osh because they were “defending the rights of Uzbeks”. Also the mayor of Osh seems convinced of this opinion. He did not reveal his hatred against Ms Ismailova and accused her of being un-Kyrgyz, saying "How dare you speak about genocide of Uzbeks?", whereas she has never used these words in any public statement.
On top of this, also on June 28th, Feliks Kulov, chairman of Ar-Namys Party, warned staff of CAC off-the-record that criminal groups have declared a hunt on Tolekan Ismailova and that she may be “removed” tactfully. He warned her to be extremely cautious. The same day, interim president of Kyrgyzstan, Rosa Otumbaeva, called Tolekan Ismailova and urged her to leave Osh immediately.
The day before, on referendum day, Tolekan Ismailova had in fact escaped a possible attempt to cause her car to crash during her journey in the South.Tolekan Ismailova has then decided to leave the country.
Hivos is concerned
Hivos is very concerned about these developments and urges the Kyrgyz authorities to guarantee the personal safety of Tolekan Ismailova. Hivos fully supports the action of
Front Line in support of Ms Ismailova and others, which has been followed by many other international organizations.
Citizens against Corruption
Hivos has been supporting ‘
Citizens Against Corruption’ since 2004. Hivos supports this NGO, because it addresses very relevant problems through effective programmes, with a nation-wide coverage on national, regional and local level. CAC and its leader Tolekan Ismailova have a strong reputation and play an important role within Kyrgyzstan’s civil society.
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