Vitaly Ponomarev, director of the Central Asian program of Memorial human rights center, was deported from the country. Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan human rights movement confirmed the information.
The Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan noted that Vitaly Ponomarev knew why he was banned from entering the republic and on what basis he was not allowed to enter now.
The entry ban was imposed on Vitaly Ponomarev in 2017 and extended by the decision of the Bishkek City Court in February 2020.
Vitaly Ponomarev was for the first time declared persona non grata and deported from Kyrgyzstan in February 2009. Immediately after the April events of 2010, the then president Roza Otunbayeva signed decrees on lifting the previously imposed entry bans on Ponomarev and his colleagues from other human rights organizations.
This time, Vitaly Ponomarev was invited to the documentary film festival on human rights, which takes place in Bishkek from November 14 to November 18.
