The head of Adilet Legal Clinic, ex-deputy of the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan Cholpon Dzhakupova, sent an open appeal to the President of the country Sooronbai Jeenbekov telling in it why the people do not believe his promises about the fight against corruption.
24.kg news agency publishes the full text of the appeal, believing that it contains arguments that are important for all Kyrgyzstanis:
«As you know, judicial reform is currently in the active phase in Kyrgyzstan, within the framework of which a new block of criminal laws has entered into force on January 1, 2019. The leadership of the republic, headed by you, has consistently upheld the provisions of the new legislation, assuring the people of Kyrgyzstan that, thanks to the new laws, state bodies will ensure fair and impartial consideration of complaints and problems of citizens, as well as declaring a merciless attitude to corruption.
Adilet Legal Clinic generally supports the main directions of this reform, but, unfortunately, the law enforcement practice shows us serious shortcomings in the new laws, as well as frank violations committed by law enforcement agencies and courts.
Lawyers of the Clinic came to such disappointing conclusions based on the analysis of criminal cases and materials, in which lawyers faced the most flagrant violations of the international human rights standards.
Legal circles are widely discussing the current practice of arbitrary law enforcement, when law enforcement agencies illegally and unreasonably refuse to register allegations of crimes in the Unified Register of Crimes and Misconduct, without conducting appropriate checks, deciding that there are no grounds for an investigation that is unacceptable.
At the same time, there are cases of investigation of the facts of civil transactions, which should be considered by the courts in a civil order. For example, criminal cases are being instituted despite the fact that there are valid contracts for the sale of cars or apartments, that is, any transaction of citizens can act as a «feeder» for fraudsters and dishonest investigators.
People have no choice but to record by a video camera the moment of conclusion of an agreement and handing over the money.
Often, citizens are illegally prohibited travel abroad; property seizures are imposed, including against persons who are witnesses in criminal cases. Facts of seizure of money and securities of witnesses placed in banks in their name as heads of organizations and other legal entities are of particular concern, which have clear signs of corruption, raiding and open pressure on business. Moreover, no one bears responsibility for the flagrant facts of human rights violations.
Such facts became possible due to the fact that law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges distort the laws to please their personal selfish interests, in some cases, imperfection of the legislative base is clearly traced.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of our citizens suffer, who are forced to buy justice for money.
Under such circumstances, all your promises to fight corruption appear only as slogans annoying the society, which all former leaders repeated.
How can people believe in the reality of the declared anti-corruption policy if the judges unjustifiably and with impunity seize the property of citizens, and the border guards do not let them out of the country in connection with letters from investigators on fake criminal cases?
In such conditions, attracting of foreign investment to Kyrgyzstan is out of question. A huge outflow of capital from the country, which is comparable to the level observed in warring countries, has already been openly ascertained in the society and the media.
People take out money due to the high corruption of state bodies and the lack of stable legislation.
Cholpon Dzhakupova
The law enforcement agencies organized a contest among themselves for the 1st place in replenishing the so-called special anti-corruption account, but ordinary citizens and entrepreneurs, who are simply extorted money under the guise of your instructions, suffer from their zeal.
In addition, the fact that crime and law enforcement agencies have closely grown together in our country is causing great concern; extortion is now being carried out not only under the threat of beating or arson, entrepreneurs have already begun to be killed.
A sad confirmation of this is an appeal of the business community in connection with the brutal murder of the owner of Madina cafe.
The activities of the institution of defense attorneys are generally reduced to zero, since neither the laws nor the practice of their application make it possible to prosecute the relevant officials who have the opportunity to simply ignore the requests of lawyers. This, in its turn, directly affects the rights of ordinary citizens who are now virtually left without protection.
The indicated facts are a natural result of the absolute lack of control over the work of the power block and the judicial system, mediocre personnel policy in all spheres of public service, where professionalism is almost completely absent along with the ability to manage republican processes, analyze the current situation, coordinate and forecast.
We have repeatedly sent analytical letters and appeals to the top leadership of the state with requests to respond to the lawlessness and mess that is happening from the point of view of law, which will only get worse in the absence of control. However, no reaction followed, there is no feedback from society, power is moving farther and farther away from the people. We emphasize that all of the mentioned above circumstances, combined with the stably difficult socio-economic situation in the country, accompanied by the unpredictability of socio-political processes, can lead to sad consequences.
Based on the foregoing, I ask you to consider this appeal as an official statement and to ensure, for all the aforementioned circumstances (including the arguments specified in the attached analysis), the adoption of measures provided for by law within the framework of the powers established by the Constitution and legislation of Kyrgyzstan.
Dear Sooronbai Sharipovich, we are well aware that, according to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, the relevant state bodies will prepare a response to this appeal, and therefore we urge their leaders to involve competent lawyers in this work (we hope that there are at least a few) so that we are not provided with formal replies, but a reasoned answer on the merits of the issues raised and systemic errors."
