Pre-trial proceedings were started on the fact of incident at the Kyrgyz-Tajik border under the article «Crime against peace» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic. Press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Kyrgyz Republic reported.
An interdepartmental investigation group from among the employees of the State Committee for National Security, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Military Prosecutor’s Office was entrusted with investigation within the pre-trial proceedings.
«Clashes between local residents and citizens of Tajikistan, provoked by the Tajik side, occurred on April 29 at about 4.40 in Kocho-Boyu area of Kok-Tash village, Batken region. Subsequently, in violation of the bilateral agreement between the countries on partnership relations dated May 26, 2004, the principles of peaceful coexistence, friendship and good-neighborliness, the servicemen of the Republic of Tajikistan invaded our country in order to seize the sovereign territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, violating its sovereignty and integrity,» the Prosecutor General’s Office stated.
Fire was opened using machine guns, mortars, armored vehicles, combat helicopters and other army weapons.
The supervisory authority noted that the military personnel of Tajikistan carried out an armed attack with the use of mortars and helicopter gunships at the border outposts Bulak Bashy, Kapchygai, Dostuk, Min Bulak, border posts Kozhozhar, Kyzyl-Bel and other settlements in Batken and Leilek districts with seizure of the territory and settlements of Kyrgyzstan.
As a result of the armed attack, law enforcement officers, military personnel, as well as civilians received various gunshot and shrapnel wounds, and people were killed. Numerous civilian and military facilities of the Kyrgyz Republic were damaged and destroyed.
«These actions of the Tajik servicemen testify to a pre-planned provocation and aggression against the sovereignty and integrity of Kyrgyzstan. The actions of the military personnel of the neighboring republic envisage planning, preparation for the armed aggression, unleashing it and participation in it with the conduct of an aggressive war in violation of international treaties and agreements,» the statement says.
The border conflict began on April 28. Local residents, army units and heavy weapons were involved in it. The parties finally agreed on the armistice and withdrawal of troops only on the evening of May 1.
At least 179 Kyrgyzstanis sought medical help, 34 people died, including a child. More than 33,000 people have been evacuated from the conflict zone. The Tajik side unofficially reported more than 150 wounded and about 10 dead.
According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, 78 houses, two schools, a village first-aid station, a kindergarten, a police station, three checkpoints, ten gas filling stations and eight shops were destroyed in Kyrgyz border villages. Border outposts were also damaged. According to the Tajik side, more than 10 houses have been destroyed by fire in Khoja Alo border village.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan began pre-trial proceedings under the article «Crime against peace» of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.
