BISHKEK -- The Bishkek City Court has rejected appeals by several more Kyrgyz politicians and activists against their two-month pretrial detention on charges of planning mass disorder over the government’s border demarcation agreement with neighboring Uzbekistan.
More than 20 men and women were detained in late October after they protested against the deal under which Kyrgyzstan will hand over the territory of the Kempir-Abad water reservoir covering 4,485 hectares to Uzbekistan in exchange for over 19,000 hectares elsewhere.
Those detained include the former Kyrgyz ambassador to Malaysia, Azimbek Beknazarov, well-known politicians, human rights defenders, and other noted public figures and activists.
The court's decision on November 10 upheld the pretrial detentions of politicians Ravshan Jeenbekov, Bektur Asanov, Kubanychbek Kadyrov, and Klara Sooronkulova; former lawmaker Asia Sasykbaeva; human rights defender Rita Karasartova; and activists Marat Bayazov, Perizat Suranova, and Akylbek Aitbaev, who originally had been remanded in pretrial detention until at least December 20.
A day earlier, pretrial detentions of several other politicians and activists detained in the high-profile case were upheld.
Appeals filed by other detained politicians and activists will be considered by the court in the coming days.
Some 20 lawmakers, meanwhile, urged President Sadyr Japarov to release six women detained in the case.
In a statement on October 25, Human Rights Watch urged the government of the Central Asian nation to immediately release the politicians and activists and publish all of the details of the deal on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border demarcation.
The Kempir-Abad reservoir, which was built in 1983, is located in the fertile Ferghana Valley and represents a vital regional water source. Uzbekistan, whose population of 35 million is five times larger than that of Kyrgyzstan, uses the majority of the water.
Many Kyrgyz civil activists, opposition politicians, and residents living close to the dam that created the reservoir are against the deal.
They say Uzbekistan could continue using the water but the reservoir's land should remain within Kyrgyzstan's border.
Japarov and his allies claim the deal benefits Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyz farmers will still have access to the water.
Last week Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and Kyrgyz counterpart Jeenbek Kulubaev signed a number of documents on border delimitation in Bishkek, including the agreement on jointly managing the Kempir-Abad water reservoir.