Kyrgyz citizens give up country's citizenship when they become terrorists - parliamentarians
BISHKEK. April 19 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz parliament is working on a law on stripping citizens who are members of international terrorist organizations and fight on their side abroad of the country's citizenship.
The law on the stripping of citizenship for participation in international terrorist groups implements the relevant norms of the country's constitution, Mirlan Jeenchoroyev, chairman of the Kyrgyz parliamentary commission on law and order, crime prevention and corruption prevention, told Interfax on Wednesday.
"This law will implement the provisions of the Constitution adopted at the December 16, 2016 referendum on the possibility of stripping people of Kyrgyz citizenship for participation in international terrorist organizations," he said.
The parliamentarian said he believes that "such citizens of Kyrgyzstan give up their citizenship when they join international terrorist and extremist organizations, choosing a different ideology and other forms of statehood."
Jeenchoroyev said that the Kyrgyz special services have information on the number of citizens who are members of terrorist organizations and who fight on their side.
The initiative on stripping people of Kyrgyz citizenship for participation in international terrorist groups was first announced in September 2015 at a meeting of the republic's Defense Council.
According to the Kyrgyz special services, up to 600 citizens have left the republic to fight in the Middle East on the side of terrorist groups. A provision on the stripping of people of citizenship was included in the new Constitution. It provides that a decision to strip a person of citizenship can be made if there are valid reasons for this, which will be determined by relevant laws.
