KYRGYZSTAN: BALYKCHY DEFENDANTS GUILTY - ANOTHER

C O N F I D E N T I A L BISHKEK 000005 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KG SUBJECT: KYRGYZSTAN: BALYKCHY DEFENDANTS GUILTY - ANOTHER BLOW TO THE OPPOSITION REF: (A) BISHKEK 1067 (B) BISHKEK 831 (C) BISHKEK 812 Classified By: Charge D'Affaires Larry L. Memmott, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) On December 25, the city court of Balykchy, a city two hours east of Bishkek, sentenced four Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan supporters to four years in prison and another 15 individuals to several years probation in connection with post-presidential election protests. All the defendants had been accused of organizing and participating in a mass demonstration in Balykchy following the July presidential election. The authorities also accused the defendants of preventing elections, interfering with the election commission, and threatening to overthrow the government. ¶2. (SBU) During the July presidential election, election observers witnessed blatant ballot stuffing at polling places in Balykchy. A large group of residents gathered outside the local election commission to protest, and police officers attacked the group with batons and percussion grenades. Several of those arrested were repeatedly beaten after they were arrested, and at least one was threatened with rape. One defendant, Kanatbek Solpiyev, has reportedly fled Kyrgyzstan for Europe to seek political asylum. ¶3. (SBU) The trial of the Balykchy protesters was apparently politically motivated. Evidence presented during the trial seemed to indicate that the most serious crime any of the accused might have committed was meeting without approval. In addition, several of the arrested may have had nothing to do with the protest and were innocently watching the demonstration when they were arrested by police. The leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, who was present at the sentencing, criticized the harsh prison terms and promised to appeal the verdicts to the Supreme Court. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: The government sends a clear message to the political opposition with the harsh sentences in the Balykchy cases. We expect the on-going trial, and likely sentencing on January 11, of former Minister of Defense, Presidential candidate and political insider, Ismail Isakov, will also send a clear signal that opposing the ruling party is risky. MEMMOTT