Judges, prosecutors take rice bribes in southern Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK. Jan 20 (Interfax) - A judge has been detained on extortion suspicions in the Osh region of southern Kyrgyzstan upon taking rice as a bribe, a Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office spokesman told Interfax on Monday.
He said extortion charges were brought against a judge and the prosecutor of the Kara-Kulja district on January 16.
"We received a statement by local resident S.A. from the Interior Ministry. He said a local judge was threatening him with arrest and extorting 20,000 soms ($400) and a bag of rice. The judge said the man would not be put in prison for the criminal investigation period if he met the demand," the office spokesman said.
"Kara-Kulja district prosecutor E.A. asked for 100,000 soms ($2,000) or a tonne of rice from the applicant for dropping his criminal case," he said.
The police and prosecutors caught a judge taking a bribe of 11,000 soms in his office in the village of Kara-Kulja on January 18. The driver of the district prosecutor was detained on the same day. "Fifty kilograms of rice transported to the district prosecutor were found in his official vehicle," the office press service said.
