KYRGYZ HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BRIEFLY DETAINED IN

UNCLAS BISHKEK 001115 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KG SUBJECT: KYRGYZ HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST BRIEFLY DETAINED IN MOSCOW REF: A. 06 BISHKEK 1316 ¶B. BISHKEK 442 ¶C. BISHKEK 809 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED ¶1. (SBU) Summary: On October 5, Poloff met with Aziza Abdurasulova (protect),head of human rights organization Kylym Shamy, to discuss her brief detainment by Moscow airport authorities after they allegedly found small arms ammunition in her bag. Abdurasulova asserted that the contraband was planted in an attempt to intimidate or scare her. During the meeting, Abdurasulova also provided an update on other human rights abuse cases that she continues to follow. End Summary. LONG-DISTANCE INTIMIDATION OF RIGHTS ACTIVIST -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On October 5, Aziza Abdurasulova, a well known human rights defender and leader of the rights organization, Kylym Shamy, told Poloff that her brief detainment in the Sheremetyeva Airport in Moscow was staged by Russian airport officials as a form of intimidation. While returning from the OSCE's Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw on October 1, Moscow airport authorities scanned Abdurasulova's bag several times before confronting her with claims that they found a single AK-47 round hidden among her belongings. She said that she never actually saw the bullet in her bag and that it would have been detected when she crossed three borders before arriving in Moscow. ¶3. (SBU) Abdurasulova said that officers from the Russian Ministry of Interior and Border Service questioned her for nearly two hours and attempted to coerce her into signing a confession. She added that they even tried to trick her into handling the round and leaving her fingerprints on it. Eventually, the Russian authorities admitted that the possession of a single round was not a criminal offense and that no charges would be filed against the activist. Abdurasulova agreed to sign a document stating that she would not accuse the Russian authorities of planting the ammunition in her bag and was released in time to catch her flight back to Bishkek. WHO IS BEHIND BULLET-GATE? -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Abdurasulova speculated that a number of senior Kyrgyz government officials could have ordered the ruse in Moscow. She claimed that the head of the Kyrgyz Security Services (GKNB) Murat Sutalinov or Security Council Secretary Adakhan Madumarov may have been behind the incident because of her public defense of "so-called terrorists" apprehended in the wake of the June anti-terrorist operations in southern Kyrgyzstan. She reiterated earlier statements that the government was arresting innocent ethnic-Uzbek citizens and falsely accusing them of involvement in terrorist activities. She likened the incident to the Matryoshka doll full of heroin planted in the travel bag of then-opposition MP Omurbek Tekebayev prior to his departure to Warsaw in September 2006 (Ref A). Abdurasulova believed that the entire event was a "warning sign" but vowed to continue defending individuals' human rights. ACTIVIST JUGGLES SEVERAL HIGH-PROFILE CASES -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Abdurasulova updated Poloff on a number of other high-profile human rights cases currently underway. She reported that Erkin Bulekbaev, the leader of the Green Party, was scheduled to stand trial for his participation in the Petrovka riots in April (Ref B). Abdurasulova also told Poloff that court proceedings had begun for members of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan who were arrested on July 23 in Balykchi after protesting election irregularities (Ref C). Among those arrested is Social Democrat MP Kubanychbek Kadyrov, whose immunity was removed by a vote of his peers during a parliamentary session on September 18. This decision paves the way for prosecutors to formally charge the parliamentarian. Abdurasulova said that Kylym Shamy lawyers were providing legal counsel and assistance to some of the defendants in both cases. MEMMOTT