Opposition politicians who are among dozens of members of the Kempir-Abad Defense Committee placed in pretrial detention last year following protests against Kyrgyzstan's decision to cede water supplies to Uzbekistan have said they are facing pressure in custody that amounts to torture.
Three politicians, Azimbek Beknazarov, Kubanychbek Kadyrov, and Jenish Moldokmatov, published a public appeal on Facebook on September 4 in which they described a conflict members of the Kempir-Abad Defense Committee had with prison staff.
The statement said that, after the conflict arose over orders that Kembir-Abad Defense Committee members be transferred to different cells, Bezknazarov, Kadyrov, and Moldokmatov were separated from the rest of the group and held in a basement.
The text describes unsuitable conditions, including high humidity and cells in disrepair, and said the three men consider the transfers of their fellow Kempir-Abad Defense members to be "torture and violence with the aim of breaking the members of Kempir-Abad."
The claims followed a statement by opposition politician and Kempir-Abad Defense Committee member Ravshan Jeenbekov on September 1 in which he said he had been tortured. In his appeal, Jeenbekov said he had been searched for five days in a row and transferred to a cold cell.
The Kempir-Abad Defense Committee is opposed to a long-standing Kyrgyz-Uzbek border demarcation deal that in November 2022 handed the Kempir-Abad water reservoir over to Uzbekistan. In October of that year, members of the committee organized protests against the deal, leading to the arrest of 27 members of the Kempir-Abad Defense Committee. Fourteen members, including activists and opposition politicians, remain in pretrial detention.
Those arrested for protesting the deal were charged with planning riots over the agreement, which had been in the making for over three decades.
Some members of the group have staged hunger strikes, the latest in August, demanding a fair investigation and their release from custody. The detainees have said they consider the criminal case against them to be political persecution for their position on the transfer of the land.
The Kempir-Abad Reservoir, known in Uzbekistan as the Andijon Reservoir, was built in 1983. It 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 most of the water from the area.