16:03, 15 августа 2023, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Nargiz KOZUKUL KYZY
The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (SCNS) detained a 27-year-old native of Naryn region, who participated in the hostilities in Ukraine. Azattyk reports.
He participated in the war as part of the Wagner PMC. After returning to Kyrgyzstan, he was detained by law enforcement officials as suspect in «mercenary activities».
Relatives claim that he served his sentence in a Russian prison, where he was forced to join Wagner. His wife asks the authorities of Kyrgyzstan for mercy.
The SCNS and law enforcement agencies have not yet given official comment.
According to the suspect’s wife, he returned from Russia last month.
«My husband came from Moscow on July 8. We went to Bishkek and then returned to Naryn on July 31. On August 1, at 7.40 p.m., employees of the SCNS came and detained my husband,» she said.
The Naryn City Court arrested him for two months.
According to her, her husband left for Russia as a labor migrant in 2020. In 2021, the police detained him on suspicion of drug possession. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. At the end of 2022, in prison, he joined Wagner PMC and went to fight in Ukraine.
Husband was wrongfully accused. He always said that the Russian prison is terrible. Later he joined Wagner and left for Ukraine. My husband was between life and death.
Spouse of the detainee
«His contract expired at the beginning of July, and he barely returned to his homeland, and this is happening here,» the woman added.
She appeals to the authorities of Kyrgyzstan; the family has two small children, 4 and 6 years old. At the same time, she does not hide the fact that she hopes for help from the Russian authorities, because her husband fought for this country.
Relatives of the suspect appealed to the Naryn Regional Court with a request to place him under house arrest. Barktabas Belekov, a spokesman for the department, said that the first court hearing was scheduled for August 28.
«After my husband returned from Russia, we collected everything we had and bought a car. But when the husband was detained, the SCNS arrested the car. After returning to homeland safe and sound, he wanted to work as a taxi driver and feed his family. It was very difficult for us when he was in Russia. Father-in-law is a disabled person of the second group, a Chernobyl veteran. Since my husband was detained, my father-in-law’s health has deteriorated,» the detainee’s wife said.
This is the second case of detention in Kyrgyzstan for participation in the war in Ukraine. Earlier, employees of the SCNS detained a citizen of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Kubanychbek uulu, who also participated in hostilities in Ukraine. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He asked to be granted Russian citizenship.