BISHKEK -- Four women arrested in late October along with 22 people detained in Kyrgyzstan for protesting against a border deal with Uzbekistan have launched hunger strikes.
Klara Sooronkulova, Rita Karasartova, Perizat Suranova, and Orozaiym Narmatova issued a statement from a detention center in Bishkek on December 14 saying they started the action to "protest against mass political repression accompanied by fabricated criminal cases, injustice and lawlessness being conducted against a wide number of politicians, activists, journalists, and bloggers."
The women emphasized that President Sadyr Japarov, Interior Minister Ulan Niyazbekov, Kamchybek Tashiev, the chairman of the State Committee for National Security, Prosecutor-General Kurmankul Zulushev, and their subordinates will be responsible for any consequences resulting from the hunger strikes.
A day earlier, a court in Bishkek extended the pretrial detention of the four women and several others arrested in the case until at least February 20.
Kyrgyz authorities arrested 26 members of the so-called Kempir-Abad Defense Committee in late October after they protested against the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border demarcation 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 arrested were charged with planning riots over the border agreement, which is more than three decades in the making.
Last month, the presidents of the two Central Asian nations signed the disputed deal into law after lawmakers in both countries approved it.
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.
Many Kyrgyz civil activists, opposition politicians, and residents living close to the dam have been against the deal saying Uzbekistan should continue to be allowed to use the water, but the reservoir's land should remain within Kyrgyzstan.
President Japarov and his allies claim the deal benefits Kyrgyzstan and that Kyrgyz farmers will still have access to the water reservoir.