BISHKEK -- A court in Kyrgyzstan has refused to release jailed politician Ravshan Jeenbekov, who is registered as a candidate for parliamentary elections to be held later this month.
The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek on November 3 ruled that Jeenbekov must remain in pretrial detention, rejecting a request from his lawyer, Zamir Jooshev, that the court allow Jeenbekov to travel abroad to receive medical treatment for an illness related to problems with his liver.
Jeenbekov was arrested in December 2019 in a criminal case related to a violent two-day standoff four months earlier between security forces and supporters of former President Almazbek Atambaev that resulted in the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injuries -- 79 of them sustained by law enforcement officers.
Jeenbekov, Atambaev, and 12 other men and women are charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting representatives of the authorities, hostage-taking, and the forcible seizure of power.
Atambaev is currently serving a prison term he received in another case related to the illegal release from prison of a notorious criminal kingpin in 2013.
During mass anti-government rallies in October 2020 sparked by controversial parliamentary elections that led to the resignation of the government, Jeenbekov was released from a detention center and placed under house arrest.
In early August, Jeenbekov was rearrested after a court ruled that he had violated the conditions of his house arrest.
Jeenbekov has rejected all of the charges, calling them politically motivated.
Kyrgyzstan's Committee for Civic Control human rights organization has recognized Jeenbekov as a political prisoner.
Jeenbekov was registered as a candidate for parliamentary elections scheduled for November 28.
