Kyrgyzstan has long been considered an ‘island of freedom and democracy’ in Central Asia, but mass arrests of opposition activists and attacks on the media over the past 10 days suggest the current authorities are all-too similar to their neighbouring regimes.
On 23 October, 22 civic activists and public figures – including politicians, a former Constitutional Court judge and a former ambassador – were jailed by a court on suspicion of “attempting to organise mass riots” for two months.
All 19 are members of a new committee created to protect a reservoir that spans Kyrgyzstan’s border with neighbouring Uzbekistan, which has long been a source of contention between the two countries.
