BISHKEK -- Gulzat Alymkulova, a well-known Kyrgyz blogger known online as Gulzat Mamytbek, has been handed a suspended sentence on a fraud charge and released from custody.
The Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek found Alymkulova guilty of fraud and handed her a five-year prison term with the sentence suspended for three years.
The sentence means the blogger will live under parole-like restrictions for three years. Any violations of the terms of her sentence and she could be forced to serve the five-year prison term.
Alymkulova was arrested on October 25, 2021, upon her return to Bishkek from a trip abroad.
City police officials said at the time that seven Bishkek residents had filed lawsuits, accusing her of collecting some $110,000 from them in 2020 and promising quick gains on the sum before disappearing without a trace.
Neither Alymkulova, who has written about sensitive social issues in her blog posts, nor her representatives have commented on her arrest and the charge against her.