Reporter Attacked At Kyrgyz Wedding Procession

OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- An RFE/RL correspondent in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh has been attacked and beaten near a wedding procession.

Ydyrys Isakov was driving to work on August 5 when three cars blocked his way and young men told him he could not use the road because it was to being used for a wedding-ceremony march.

Some couples have begun a practice at weddings in which the bride and groom walk down a major street with friends and relatives driving slowly behind them, forcing others to use other roads.

Isakov refused to change his route and two men inside the cars attacked and beat him.

One attacker told Isakov he was a relative of an employee at the local prosecutor's office.

When Isakov began filming his attackers on camera, they ran away.

Isakov sustained bruises and facial injuries in the attack.

The Osh police department's press secretary, Zamir Sydykov, told RFE/RL that police had started a preliminary investigation into the attack.