Meeting of Coalition against Torture aggressively interrupted by members of Youth Patriotic Movement of Kyrgyzstan
On 23 May 2019, the Working Meeting organised in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan by a union of human rights organisations known as the Coalition against Torture was interrupted by nine unknown individuals. The group claimed that the meeting had been financed by Western countries and was aimed at destabilising peace in Kyrgyzstan.
Coalition against Torture is a union of 17 non-governmental organisations as well as independent civil society activists working to prevent and combat torture and ill-treatment in Kyrgyzstan. The Coalition monitors detention facilities, provides legal aid for the victims of torture and ill-treatment, and assists in their rehabilitation.
On 23 May 2019, the Working Meeting organised in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan by a union of human rights organisations known as the Coalition against Torture was interrupted by nine unknown individuals. The group claimed that the meeting had been financed by Western countries and was aimed at destabilising peace in Kyrgyzstan.
Coalition against Torture is a union of 17 non-governmental organisations as well as independent civil society activists working to prevent and combat torture and ill-treatment in Kyrgyzstan. The Coalition monitors detention facilities, provides legal aid for the victims of torture and ill-treatment, and assists in their rehabilitation.
On 23 May 2019, a group of nine unknown individuals carrying cameras and voice recorders, who later introduced themselves as representatives of the Youth Patriotic Movement of Kyrgyzstan, broke into the conference room where the Coalition’s meeting was being held, aggressively demanding it to stop. They claimed that Western countries and the organisations financed by them were trying to destabilise peace in Kyrgyzstan. The meeting participants filmed the intervention and filed a complaint to the Alamedin District Department of Internal Affairs of the police for “hooliganism” and obstruction of the professional activities of an attorney at law.
The Working Meeting of lawyers and attorneys at law, which took place between 21 and 23 May 2019, was dedicated to a discussion with international experts, concerning the current legal practice in cases of torture on a national and international level. After the actual aims of the meeting had been clarified to the attackers, they stated that they had been misinformed.
According to local human rights defenders, this is not the first time that this group has interfered with the professional activities of lawyers. In the past, they interrupted a training of lawyers held in the same conference hall. The Youth Patriotic Movement of Kyrgyzstan has been targetting human rights defenders and organisations since 2011, as part of their mission to “monitor unlawful initiatives of the foreign diplomatic missions and international organisations, along with their local partners, to prevent destabilisation in the country”.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern about the attack against the professional activities of the Coalition against Torture, as it is believed to be solely motivated by the peaceful and legitimate human rights work of the Coalition, and aimed at intimidating and harassing human rights organisations working on torture and ill-treatment.
