HUNGER STRIKER'S DEATH HEIGHTENS KYRGYZ POLITICAL TENSION
Alisher Khamidov: 2/9/02

The death of a hunger striker in Kyrgyzstan has prompted opposition politicians to call for the resignation of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev. Sherali Nazarkulov, 51, died on February 7 following a 22-day hunger strike to protest the arrest of a member of parliament.

Akayev opponents allege the arrest of Azimbek Beknazarov on January 5 was politically motivated and designed to silence criticism of the government's policies. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archives]. Over 300 hunger strikers were continuing their protest, demanding Beknazarov's release from custody.

Several MPs lambasted Akayev in a written statement, blaming the president for creating a volatile political atmosphere in Kyrgyzstan. "The death of Sherali Nazarkulov is on the conscience of the president, who, as the guarantor of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic must bear responsibility," said the statement, which was signed by members of the "Kyrgyzstan" and Communists of Kyrgyzstan parliamentary blocs.

"If until today we have tried to employ civilized methods of political struggle to draw attention to the current situation, at this very moment we can openly declare – we are out of patience … and we positively call for the resignation of the president," the statement added.

Official reaction to Nazarkulov's death has been muted. A special government commission headed by Mirsaid Mirrahimov, director of the National Center on Cardiology and Therapy, announced February 7 that an autopsy found food in Nazarkulov's stomach. Commission members indicated that Nazarkulov, an economist, likely died of complications from high blood pressure and heart disease.

Opposition leaders reportedly formed a special committee to oversee Nazarkulov's funeral, and called on medical personnel to refrain from tampering with Nazarkulov's medical records. According to a report by the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR), authorities removed Nazarkulov's body from a Bishkek hospital to a remote village in the southern Osh region, roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from the Kyrgyz capital.

"The dead body of Nazarkulov was taken away from Bishkek in order to avoid any public[city]; otherwise, many people would have gone to the funeral if Nazarkulov would have been buried in Bishkek," the KCHR said.

Akayev's continued silence on Nazarkulov's death, and the broader issue of the pro-Beknazarov protests, has antagonized the opposition. Akayev is officially on a two-week vacation. On February 7, the Kyrgyz president was in Moscow to accept an honorary doctorate from the Diplomatic Academy of Russia's Foreign Ministry.

"Any country leader at such a crucial stage of [its] social and political life … would cancel his vacation and take [the] necessary measures to solve the critical situation," the opposition statement said.

Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, leader of a parliament faction, described the recent turn of events as unimaginable, and he predicted an intensification of the opposition to Akayev's government. "Even the most repressive governments rarely let such things happen," Kadyrbekov told local journalists. "The only way for us now is to continue the struggle initiated by Beknazarov. And that way [leads to] impeachment."

Editor's Note: Alisher Khamidov is currently a Muskie Fellow graduate student at the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace Studies at Notre Dame University.

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Posted February 9, 2002 © Eurasianet
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