The President of Kyrgyzstan promises no persecution after signing the law on «foreign representatives» (analogous to a foreign agent in Russian legislation), officially known as the draft law «On Amendments to the Law «On Non-Profit Organizations». Sadyr Japarov posted it on Facebook.
«I have signed the law of interest to the public, non-governmental organizations and their foreign partners. Previously, non-governmental organizations and their foreign partners approached me and asked me not to sign this document. Why? Non-governmental organizations that have been working in our country for 30 years were not registered anywhere and did not report to anyone. They only opened bank accounts, took money from foreign donors and used it at their discretion, including for personal purposes. From now on, they, like everyone else, will be registered with the Ministry of Justice. They will open bank accounts. They will start working openly. There won’t be a mess like before,» he posted.
«Our NGOs are deceiving them. They spread false information, saying: «We will be persecuted, we will be detained as agents of a foreign state.» And the donors believed. That’s why they ask me not to sign this document.
You have been working with foreign donors for 30 years, and no one has persecuted you for taking any amounts of money. Will we start doing this now? I, as president, guarantee that there will be no persecution. We are not a nuclear country. We are not going to fly into space yet. Our state has no secrets that need to be hidden from you and your donors. All information can be found in open sources,» he noted.
If you can, then get not millions, but billions. This will only benefit our republic. We just want to show everything openly so that everyone works on equal terms. Then foreign donors will be able to see what amount was used and for what projects. And they will not be deceived.
Sadyr Japarov
«Before this, you deceived them, saying that you organized round tables, spent money on training and implementation of projects. At the same time the funds were used for your personal interests.
If you say that this is not true, then I can prove it. Why do non-governmental organizations in developed Western countries register with the Ministry of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, open a bank account and do not do the same when they come to our country? Or are we a second-rate republic? No, that’s not true. We will no longer tolerate such dubious actions,» he wrote.
