Law on foreign agents adopted in second reading

The Parliament of Kyrgyzstan at its meeting adopted the bill on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the second reading today, February 22.

64 deputies voted for, 5 against.

It should be noted that on February 20, at the meeting of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation, State Structure, Judicial, Legal Issues and Regulations of the Parliament, the initiator of the draft law on NGOs, Nadira Narmatova, announced that it was decided to remove the provision on criminal liability from the document.

On October 25, 2023, the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan adopted in the first reading changes to the Law on NGOs and the Criminal Code, initiated by Nadira Narmatova and a group of deputies, which provide for the introduction of the concept of «foreign representative» (analogue to a foreign agent in Russian legislation). The document was adopted in the second reading at a meeting of the relevant committee on January 23, 2024.

Recall, the initiator of the amendments, Nadira Narmatova, proposed introducing Article 200-1 «Creation of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens» into the Criminal Code. For violation of this article, it was planned to impose punishment up to imprisonment for up to three years, and for active participation in the activities of associations specified in part 1 of the article, as well as for propaganda of the actions of such organizations — up to five years. The Supreme Court and the Prosecutor General’s Office opposed this initiative. They were also supported by the Ombudsman.