BISHKEK -- A court in Bishkek has dropped a charge of horse stealing -- but not the more serious charge of illegal drugs possession -- against Kyrgyz traditional bard singer Bolot Nazarov, known for performing songs criticizing the Central Asian nation's authorities, and released him from custody.
The decision by the Moscow district court on January 24 came less than a week after a prosecutor requested the court convict Nazarov of robbery and illegal drugs possession and sentence him to 10 years in prison.
The court said it decided to drop the robbery charge due to conciliation between the parties involved.
Nazarov and his supporters have rejected the charges for months.
The singer was initially arrested a year ago along with well-known investigative journalist Bolot Temirov for the alleged possession of illegal drugs. Amid protests by the two men's supporters, they were transferred to house arrest.
In November, police accused Nazarov of stealing a horse from a farmer and placed him back in pretrial detention.
Nazarov has insisted the owner had given him the horse as a prize for winning a competition among bards.
After he was officially charged with stealing the horse, Nazarov returned it to the farmer. In December, the plaintiff asked the court to drop the charge against Nazarov, saying he had no claims against him.
A ruling on the illegal drugs possession charge against Nazarov has yet to be made.
Temirov was deported to Russia in November after a Bishkek court found him guilty of illegally obtaining a Kyrgyz passport.
The journalist, who has extensively reported about corruption among government officials in Kyrgyzstan, had both Kyrgyz and Russian citizenships. He has insisted the court's decision was politically motivated, saying all his documents, including his Kyrgyz passport, had been legally and properly obtained.
The court's decision to deport Temirov has been condemned by a UN rights envoy, press freedom defenders, and Western governments.