Electronic bracelets and mobile apps transforming Kyrgyzstan’s justice system

18:26, 13 мая 2026, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Myrzaiym ZHANYBEK KYZY

The Ministry of Justice of the Kyrgyz Republic has presented the results of implementing an electronic monitoring system for individuals in conflict with the law. Officials say the use of domestically developed technologies has not only reduced prison overcrowding, but also created a new mechanism for protecting citizens from violence.

One of the key outcomes of the reform has been a sharp decline in the number of people held in pretrial detention centers. According to Justice Minister Ayaz Baetov, requests for pretrial detention have fallen by 25 percent over the past two years — from more than 8,000 cases in 2023 to less than 6,000 in 2026.

He emphasized that electronic supervision is both a cost-effective and humane solution. Holding a defendant in detention costs the state significantly more than monitoring them through an electronic bracelet or mobile application.

«Only those who may flee or interfere with an investigation should be kept in detention centers. If a person is accused of economic violations or less serious crimes, why isolate them? Electronic monitoring allows individuals to remain with their families and continue working while still being under full state supervision,» Baetov said.

To ensure precise legal management of the system, the Ministry of Justice divides digital supervision into three categories depending on a person’s legal status, while using the same technical tools — bracelets and smartphones — across all systems:

• Electronic supervision applies to convicted individuals serving probation sentences. Each year, the system oversees between 13,000 and 20,000 people, around 2,000 of whom are under 24-hour digital monitoring through a mobile application.
• Electronic surveillance serves as a pretrial restrictive measure for individuals under investigation. It is intended as a direct alternative to detention before a court verdict is issued.
• Electronic monitoring applies to individuals released before completing their full prison sentence. To ensure public safety and monitor behavior during reintegration into society, these individuals remain under digital observation through mobile applications or electronic bracelets.

Officials told journalists that the reform has given real enforcement power to «protection orders.» Previously, such orders functioned largely as paper warnings, but they are now backed by electronic monitoring of aggressors.

Journalists were shown electronic bracelets designed and assembled by the Ministry of Justice. Officials say replacing imported equipment with domestically produced devices will reduce budget expenditures in the future.

The devices are currently undergoing testing. One of their primary future applications will be enforcing temporary protection orders in domestic violence cases:

• Automatic distance control: the system continuously tracks the geolocation of an offender. If the individual approaches a victim closer than the distance established by a court or police order, the violation is immediately detected.
• Rapid response mechanism: alert signals are instantly transmitted from the Ministry of Justice Monitoring Center to law enforcement authorities, allowing police units to respond immediately.
• Anti-tampering protection: if a user attempts to remove, damage, disable, or interfere with the bracelet, the monitoring center automatically receives an emergency alert. Violations of electronic supervision rules may result in arrest for up to 14 days.

To quickly protect victims, the Ministry of Internal Affairs can implement such monitoring quickly, without waiting for lengthy court proceedings.

«The international standard is a recidivism rate of up to 7 percent. In our probation system, the rate is only 1.08 percent. We are often held up as an example to other countries precisely for this criterion,» the minister said.

An important feature is that all the software is a domestic product. The department’s specialists developed it jointly with the Prosecutor General’s Office, which allowed the system to be implemented with virtually no additional budget expenditures. The program records everything from travel routes to the bracelet’s battery level (a notification is sent when the battery is below 20 percent).

By the end of the year, the Ministry of Justice plans to integrate all forms of electronic control into a single universal platform and launch domestic production of electronic bracelets in order to fully meet the country’s internal digital security needs.