Feedback Press Release
On the Court Proceedings to be Held at Oktyabrsky District Court at 11:00am on January 16, 2019
The Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan invites all interested citizens, journalists, and experts monitoring strategic cases on finding human rights reports extremist to the court proceedings to be held at Oktyabrsky District Court at 11:00am on January 16, 2019. The court’s address is 6 mkr, 27/1, telephone 39 69 47.
Background:
A January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek found two human rights reports extremist and “inciteful of ethnic strife in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.” The first report was prepared by ADC Memorial and sent in conjunction with the Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan to the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. The authorship of the second report—“A Chronicle of Violence: The events in the South of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 (Osh Region)”, written by the Human Rights Center Memorial, Freedom House, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee—was mistakenly attributed to ADC Memorial, which had no connection whatsoever with this report. The decision “banned the publication, copying, storing, conveying, and distribution [of these reports] on electronic, audio, audiovisual, and paper media, including posting to the Internet.” In addition, the court banned ADC Memorial from conducting activities in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
Not one of the organizations that authored these reports was notified of the court decision. Instead, the list of extremist materials was discovered by accident in March 2018 during a review of the official website of Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Justice.
Initially, “Report of ADC Memorial sent in conjunction with the Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan and the human rights organization Freedom House titled ‘A Chronicle of Violence: The events in the South of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 (Osh Region)” was listed under entry no. 26 in the subsection “Extremist Materials.” The list was later edited, and then both reports were listed under entry no. 4, but the authorship was still mistakenly attributed to ADC Memorial. In this way, distinguished human rights organizations and their analytical reports found their way onto the list, along with organizations like Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Islamic State, which are recognized throughout the world as terrorist and/or extremist organizations.
The ban on ADC Memorial’s reports and activities is not currently in effect, since Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court cancelled the decision issued by the Oktyabrsky District Court and sent the case for a new hearing.
Several court sessions have already taken place at the Oktyabrsky District Court, and Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan filed a motion to join the authors of “A Chronicle of Violence”—the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Freedom House, and the Human Rights Center Memorial—to the case as third parties.
On December 28, 2018, Judge A.B. Dzheenbekova decided at her own initiative to postpone the hearing of the case until 11:00 am on January 16, 2019, since the case files were stamped “Confidential.” The judge requested that the Chair of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek grant permission to hear the case or to transfer it to another court permitted to hear cases stamped “Confidential.”
It should be noted that during their legal defense, these human rights organizations have faced opposition and refusals to provide information on the case. For example, a request to provide Bir Duino with the decision of the Oktyabrsky Court was sent to this court on March 20, 2018, but was refused on March 27, 2018 because this organization is not a party to the proceedings. That same day, Bir Duino sent a similar request to the Ministry of Justice, which had to be repeated on April 4 because it was met with silence. On March 30, 2018, the Ministry of Justice responded that it could only provide copies of documents in this case that were in its physical possession. On March 28, 2018, a request for the case files was sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan; during a telephone conversation, a worker at this office stated it had received a response from the State Committee for National Security stating that both documents were stamped “Confidential,” so the office could not provide copies of documents in the case. The January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky Court was finally obtained from the Ministry of Justice on May 15, 2018 (letter of the Ministry of Justice of May 15, 2018, ref. no. 07-3/5953).
For reference: list of court sessions in the case
In late May 2018, Bir Duino filed an appeal to the January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek. This appeal was rejected, so Bir Duino filed a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court.
Under a ruling of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic of October 22, 2018 (in a panel consisting of presiding judge P. Zhumagulov and judges B.B. Batyraliev and D.E. Arstanbayev):
- the motion to restore the missed deadline and the cassation appeal filed by T.A. Ismailova, chair of the Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan were granted in full.
- the missed deadline for filing a cassation appeal to the January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court was restored.
- The January 5, 2017 decision of the Oktyabrsky District Court was cancelled in full and the case was sent to the Oktyabrsky District Court for a new hearing.
On November 21, the materials arrived at the Oktyabrsky District Court. The case has forwarded Judge Albina Bekenonva Dzheenbekova for a hearing.
The first court hearing was scheduled for December 17, 2018. During the proceedings, the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a motion to include ADC Memorial (Brussels) in the proceedings and to postpone the case due to the need to invite the officers from the State Committee for National Security who performed the check to provide explanations. The State Committee for National Security and the Ministry of Internal Affairs supported the motion and the court left the matter open.
Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan filed a motion to involve the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Freedom House, and the Human Rights Center Memorial (Moscow) as third parties; the matter was left open.
A motion was filed for separate hearings of the requests from the Prosecutor General’s Office to find the two reports extremist, since they are not related and were prepared by different organizations. The court did not grant this motion.
The proceedings were postponed until December 28, 2018, i.e. the motion filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office was granted.
On December 28, 2018, Judge A.B. Dzheenbekova decided at her own initiative to postpone the hearing of the case until 11:00am on January 16, 2019, since the case files were stamped “Confidential.” The judge requested that the Chair of the Oktyabrsky District Court in Bishkek grant permission to hear the case or to transfer it to another court permitted to hear cases stamped “Confidential.”
Appeal to the Disciplinary Commission of Judges and its Response:
In connection with the Oktyabrsky District Court’s refusal to provide Bir Duino with its January 5, 2017 decision and to allow it to review the case files, Bir Duino filed an appeal against the illegal actions of K.K. Arkharova, a judge of the Oktyabrsky District Court, and E.U. Chotkaraev. chair of the Oktyabrsky District Court, with the Disciplinary Committee of the Council of Judges. However, the committee deemed this refusal lawful. Later, the Supreme Court (ruling of the Civil Division of the Supreme Court of the Kyrgyz Republic of October 22, 2018 in a panel consisting of presiding judge P. Zhumagulov and judges B.B. Batyraliev and D.E. Arstanbayev) recognized Bir Duino as a party and revoked the illegal decision.
The Human Rights Movement Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan notes the unwarranted secrecy of the investigation, the secrecy of the court proceedings, the falsification of facts by members of the special services, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and judges of the Oktyabrsky District Court, and the failure of members of the Disciplinary Committee of Judges to comply with Kyrgyz laws in relation to the illegal actions of judges of the Oktyabrsky Court.
For any questions, please contact +996 213 383330, or birduiokyrgyzstan@gmail.com .