Lawyers and human rights activists are outraged by violation of procedures in adoption of the bill on holding a referendum on the draft of the new Constitution of Kyrgyzstan. They appealed to the Speaker of the Parliament Talant Mamytov and the deputies.
Open letter from Dinara Oshurakhunova, Begaim Usenova, Erkin Ubyshev, Ainura Usupbekova, Nurgul Abdykerimova, Tattybubu Ergeshbaeva, Saniya Toktogazieva, Cholpon Dzhakupova and the organizations they represent says that there was no public discussion of the bill within a month and the procedures for submitting the bill to the Parliament for consideration were violated. Experts remind: such a draft law should be initiated on the basis of a cover letter, which must be signed by at least 80 deputies.
«However, the deputies — initiators themselves said that they did not sign such a letter. According to their explanation, they signed a blank sheet last November to post the initial draft for public discussion. In addition, there are several parliament members among the initiators who are no longer deputies or are in custody,» the appeal says.
Lawyers are outraged: the text of the draft Constitution is still inaccessible to the people of Kyrgyzstan. An opinion of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court was also not received, and parliamentary hearings were not held. Voting procedures were also grossly violated when the document was approved in the first reading.
«The public of Kyrgyzstan calls on the deputies of the Parliament to return to the legal framework and ensure compliance with all procedures for amending the Constitution established by law. We consider it important to remind the deputies that these rules have a higher legal force than other laws, for example, the Criminal or Civil Code. Violation of procedural requirements will open up the opportunity for various political forces to abolish the Constitution in the future, which may pose risks of chronic instability,» the letter says.
Deputy Baktybek Turusbekov initiated the referendum on adoption of a new draft Constitution. The Central Election Commission received the document on March 2.
On March 3, the deputies approved the draft law on holding the plebiscite on April 11 in the first reading.
