The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry says police officers will be punished over the brutal killing of a 20-year-old woman by a man who abducted her as part of a longstanding but illegal Kyrgyz practice known as "bride kidnapping."
Interior Minister Kashkar Junushaliev is personally overseeing the internal probe into the May 27 killing of Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy at a police precinct where she and her abductor had been taken after being detained, ministry spokesman Bakyt Seitov told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service on June 2.
Officials said that Turdaaly Kyzy and her abductor had been allowed by investigators to be alone in a room together at the precinct, for unknown reasons.
"Today or tomorrow, as a result of the internal investigation, officers who demonstrated negligence will be held responsible," Seitov said.
Kyrgyz prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the stabbing death.
The 29-year-old suspected attacker, whose name has not been released, was hospitalized after stabbing himself, officials said.
Bride kidnapping, which occurs in Kyrgyzstan and some parts of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, has been illegal for years in Kyrgyzstan but prosecutions have been rare.
In 2012, Kyrgyz lawmakers strengthened the punishment, raising the maximum prison term from three to 10 years.
Following the killing of Turdaaly Kyzy, United Nations agencies in Kyrgyzstan urged the Central Asian country to take "all appropriate measures" to stop illegal practices such as bride kidnapping as well as child and forced marriage.