BISHKEK -- The Bishkek City Court has rejected appeals by several 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, according to 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, former lawmaker Asia Sasykbaeva, well-known politicians Kanat Isaev, Jenis Moldokmatov, and Ravshan Jeenbekov, human rights defender Rita Karasartova, and other noted public figures and activists.
On November 9, the court upheld the pretrial detentions of former Central Election Commission member Gulnara Jurabaeva, politician Perizat Suranova, former regional Governor Aibek Buzurmankulov, the former chief of the State Committee of National Security, Kengeshbek Duishobaev, and activists Taalai Mademinov, Atai Beishebek, and Ali Shabdan, who originally had been remanded in pretrial detention until at least December 20.
Appeals filed by other detained politicians and activists will be considered by the court in the coming days.
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 to 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.
The two Central Asian countries share a border that is more than 1,300-kilometers long.
Many Kyrgyz civil activists, opposition politicians, and residents living close to the dam are against the deal.
They say Uzbekistan could continue using the dam's water, but the reservoir's land should remain within Kyrgyzstan's border.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his allies claim the deal benefits Kyrgyzstan and that Kyrgyz farmers will still have access to the water.
Last week, Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and his 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.