Two men have been arrested in Kyrgyzstan on bride-kidnapping charges, local media report.
According to the police, the suspects are accused of kidnapping a 17-year-old girl in Bazar-Kogon, a district of the Jalal-Abad region in western Kyrgyzstan. A witness notified the police on December 8 that a group of men had forced her into a car and driven off.
The young woman, who studies at a local university, was later freed and returned to her parents, although few other details are known.
Police also said they had registered 40 bride-kidnapping cases in the Jalal-Abad region this year. Of this total, three were referred to court, one case is still pending, and the rest have been dropped.
Thousands of bride kidnappings occur each year in Kyrgyzstan despite the criminalization of the practice in 2013.
In September, five men were handed prison terms for their role in a deadly bride-kidnapping case that sparked protests in Kyrgyzstan in April.
Aizada Kanatbekova was kidnapped by a group of men on April 5 and found dead two days later in a car along with the body of one of her abductors, Zamirbek Tengizbaev, who killed himself after strangling her with a T-shirt.
A district court in Bishkek on September 14 sentenced Syimyk Moldosariev, Ajikabyl Rysbai-uulu, and Oruzbek Nurumbetov to seven years in prison each, while Zamirbek Ramankulov and Kubanych Tokon-uulu were handed 6 1/2 years in prison for taking part in the kidnapping.
The court also ruled that the five must pay 100,000 soms ($1,200) altogether to the victim's family to compensate moral and material damage caused by the death of the 26-year-old woman.
The case put a spotlight on law enforcement's reluctance to pursue such crimes.
Police were sharply criticized for their slow response in the kidnapping, even though the vehicle's make, model, and license plate were clearly visible in security-camera videos.
More than 40 police officers, including the Bishkek city police chief, were fired following the tragedy.
Authorities said at the time that Tengizbaev had been convicted in Russia three times for various crimes.
The UN Development Program and rights groups have highlighted the ongoing prevalence in Kyrgyz society of the practice of bride snatching, which they say often leads to marital rape, domestic violence, and other ills.
One of the most notorious cases involved the stabbing death in 2018 of 20-year-old university student Burulai Turdaaly-kyzy by a man who was trying to force her into marriage.