Tension in Kyrgyzstan, quite considerable to begin with, somewhat abated last night. Former interior minister Omurbek Suvanaliyev and Omurbek Abdrahmanov, prominent members of the opposition United Front headed by ex-premier Felix Kulov, were released from the detention cell of the State Committee of National Security. An anonymous source in the Kyrgyz government points out that the decision to release them was made after a meeting between opposition parliamentarians with their former comrade-in-arms Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev.

Kulov, leader of the all but extinct United Front, helped convince the authorities too. He called a press conference yesterday morning and appealed to the regime to arrest him but release three detainees bagged for organization of "mass disturbances". (Adilet Aitikeyev, 19, an akyn or folk singer, was the third detainee. Kyrgyz secret services admitted that they did not want Aitikeyev as much as they wanted his friend, leader of the youth wing of the opposition known as the Kinzhal or Dagger. Aitikeyev was told to give his jailers the whereabouts of Kinzhal leader and walk away. No information on Aitikeyev was available last night.)

Kulov was already imprisoned once, for abuse of official position. International human rights organizations proclaimed him a political prisoner then. Kulov was released in the course of the revolution in Kyrgyzstan on March 24, 2005... Yesterday, he proclaimed readiness to go to jail at the press conference and, when it was over, proceeded right to the State Committee of National Security. Kulov was told there that secret services did not have anything against him. The deal the opposition leader had suggested was turned down.

Surely, Kyrgyz secret services could have done better than that, particularly in view of the document of the State Committee of National Security on whose basis Suvanaliyev and Abdrahmanov had been detained in the first place. Kulov acquainted journalists with some excerpts from it, yesterday. "There is valid evidence that Omurbek Isakovich Suvanaliyev and Felix Shershenbayevich Kulov established the so called United Front angling at disruption of the situation in the country... Promoting his criminal intent, Suvanaliyev secured help from Jogorku Kenesh deputies, politicians, non-governmental organizations, and residents of Bishkek." If Suvanaliyev deserved imprisonment for his criminal designs, then so did Kulov... But the authorities knew better. Kulov's arrest would have made him a "martyr", an embodiment of resistance to the authoritarian regime. In the meantime, the very style of the document cited here bears a strong resemblance to documents issued by the Soviet KGB in the 1970's - criminal designs, promotion, involvement...

A primitive and unseemly campaign against ex-president's Bermet Akayeva launched by the Kyrgyz authorities is another proof of inadequacy of the regime. The Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan yesterday backed the inferior court that had annulled Akayeva's registration as a candidate for the parliament in the Kemin district (the native district of the Akayevs).

Additional election in Kemin will take place tomorrow. Fourteen candidates for the seat on the Jogorku Kenesh were initially registered. The acting legislation does not permit annulment of registration within five days before the election date. When the Akayevs returned to politics and Bermet's chances to be elected in the Kemin district were appraised as high, the dismayed authorities stepped in. All resources were mobilized to prevent it from happening. Other candidates running for the parliament accused the president's daughter of voter-bribing and violation of the residence qualification. As a matter of fact, blame for voter-bribing may probably be pinned on absolutely every Kyrgyz lawmaker. Analogous accusations sparked a series of scandals in the course of the 2005 parliamentary election and facilitated the fall of Akayev's regime.

Bermet became the prime target of all fighters for the refinement of morals in the country. Results of the opinion poll conducted in the Kemin district for one of the candidates for the parliament (not Akayeva) offer a glimpse into what is making Akayeva so popular. Firstly, she will be the only woman on the parliament if elected. Secondly, ordinary people like the way she is fighting to defend her father's name even though the latter himself is out of favor with the population.

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Arkady Dubnov

Vremya Novostei, April 28, 2007, p. 5

© Translated by Ferghana.Ru