Kyrgyz Parliamentarian Murdered

UNCLAS BISHKEK 000348 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KG SUBJECT: Kyrgyz Parliamentarian Murdered ¶1. (SBU) Ak Jol Party Deputy Sanjar Kadyraliev, 32, was killed by a single shot outside his home on the evening of April 13. According to newspaper reports, witnesses heard four shots, and saw a man run away from the scene and get into a waiting car. The Ministry of Interior is investigating. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Kubanychbek Isabekov has already ruled out the possibility of a special parliamentary commission to investigate the murder. ¶2. (SBU) Local commentators, particularly on the Diesel internet forum, doubt that the murder was politically motivated. Rather, they claim that Kadyraliev had a long association with organized crime. Internet newspaper AKIpress claimed that Kadyraliev organized a notorious 2005 assault by a group of "sportsmen" on the Osh office of MP Bayaman Erkinbayev, another reputed organized crime figure who was murdered in September 2005. ¶3. (SBU) Kadyraliev was first elected to Parliament from a district in the southern province of Osh in an extremely contentious 2006 election. Before the election, Kadyraliev was an instructor of "no holds barred" (Pankreaton) fighting, and later an executive of a Kyrgyz Pankreaton association. According to his opponent in the race, Kadyraliev used at least a hundred thugs from his association to intimidate district residents into voting for him. After a second round of voting, an appeal to the Supreme Court, and several bloody fights among supporters, Kadyraliev was announced the winner - because, according to his opponent, he personally threatened the members of the local election commission. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, Kadyraliev was elected on the party list of Ak Jol, President Bakiyev's party. ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: Kadyraliev is the fourth Kyrgyz MP murdered since 2005, in addition to one unexplained disappearance of a Member of Parliament. Presidential elections are set for July 23, and the opposition plans to contest them in spite of increasing political pressure on opposition leaders. There are no clear political links to this murder, but post will follow the results of the investigation.