Pervomaiskiy District Court of Bishkek sentenced residents of Saruu
The residents of Saruu village, who held rally against Kumtor in October 2013 that ended up in riots, were accused of taking the former head of
Initially, the state prosecution asked for some protest participants 15 years in prison. But in the end, the court imposed only one real punishment, the rest received suspended sentences:
— Aibek Sarybayev — 8 years in a colony with reinforced regime;
— Kairat Kachaganov — 4 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 3 years;
— Dastan Zhunusbayev — 4 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 1 year;
— Abai Uzakov — 5 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 3 years;
— Akylay Kenekeeva — 5 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 3 years;
— Kubat Toksobayev — 5 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 3 years;
— Zamir Minbaev — 5 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 1 year;
— Talant Ylayev — 5 years of suspended sentence with probation period of 3 years;
As of today, only Aibek Sarybayev is in custody. The rest of the defendants are under house arrest.
All the participants in the case were charged with Articles 227 (Taking Hostages), 234 (Hooliganism), 113 (Threat of Murder), 341 (Violence against a representative of power), 168 (Robbery) and 125 (Illegal deprivation of liberty) of the Criminal Code of the
The Investigation Department of the State Committee for National Security initiated a criminal case on the fact of rallies under Article 233 (Mass disorders) of the Criminal Code of the
The verdict should have been made in November 2016, but the process was constantly postponed.
Lawyers intend to appeal the decision of the court in higher instances.
