A Bishkek court said on March 19 that it had a day earlier acquitted Farid Niyazov, the former chief of the presidential office, Busurmankul Tabaldiev, the former chief of the State Committee for National Security, and Ernis Apilov, the former chief of the state commission on citizenship, of charges of illegally granting Kyrgyz citizenship to 10 Turkish nationals, including Orhan Inandi. Turkish-Kyrgyz educator Inandi was abducted by Turkish agents in Kyrgyzstan in 2021 and taken to Turkey, where he was sentenced to 21 years in prison last year on a charge of "establishing of an armed terrorist group,” which rights groups call politically motivated. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.
Kyrgyz Officials Acquitted In High-Profile Citizenship Case
The Kyrgyz officials had been charged with illegally securing Kyrgyz passports for 10 Turkish nationals. (file photo)