Kyrgyz President's Relative Accused Of Fraud Released To House Arrest

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov (file photo)

BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek announced on September 18 that a relative of President Sadyr Japarov who is suspected of fraud had been transferred from pretrial detention to house arrest.

According to the court's press service, Ulan Japarov, who is a son of President Sadyr Japarov's cousin, Rakymjan Japarov, was transferred to house arrest on August 24.

The same court ruled in July to send Ulan Japarov to pretrial detention for at least two months.

Local media has reported that Ulan Japarov is suspected of obtaining a significant amount of cash from a person in exchange for securing an official post for him, which in the end never happened.

Japarov was initially arrested in July 2023 on corruption charges.

Presidential spokesman Erbol Sultanbaev said at the time that Ulan Japarov was suspected of involvement in corruption linked to the Customs Service.

In October 2023, the Birinchi Mai district court transferred Japarov to house arrest.

In July this year, media reports in the Central Asian country said a brother-in-law of the chief of the State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Kamchybek Tashiev, was arrested on a fraud charge.

The reports gave the man's initials as A.T.O.

Sources close to the UKMK leadership confirmed to RFE/RL that a man with those initials was arrested but did not give any further details.

Neither the authorities nor Tashiev have commented on the reports.

The Birinchi Mai district court told RFE/RL at the time that its judge sent A.T.O. to pretrial detention for at least two months. The court neither elaborated on the case nor confirmed if the suspect was related to Tashiev.

Also in July, the Birinchi Mai district court said the boyfriend of President Japarov's niece had been arrested on a charge of producing illegal drugs.

Aftandil Sabyrbekov, the boyfriend of Lazzat Nurgojoeva, who is a daughter of President Japarov's younger brother, Davletbek, was arrested days after a video showing him proposing to Nurgojoeva in a lavish ceremony circulated on the Internet, sparking a public outcry.