Kyrgyz police release over 20 opposition activists after detention at Oct 3 rally in Bishkek
BISHKEK/OSH. Oct 6 (Interfax) - Over 20 supporters of the opposition Kyrgyz party Ata-Zhurt (Fatherland) detained during a protest rally in Bishkek on October 3 have been released without sanctions.
"Twenty-two participants in the October 3 rally in Bishkek, who were taken to police, have been released now," the Bishkek city police department told Interfax on Saturday.
All these people have been officially warned against breaking the law, it said.
The National Security Committee told Interfax that one man identified as Kubatbek Kozhonaliyev has been detained under an investigation into an attempt to violently seize power and calls for changing the constitutional system at the opposition rally on October 3.
"He has so far been detained for 48 hours and is being held at the National Security Committee detention facility," it said.
Supporters of parliamentarians Kamchibek Tashiyev, Sadyr Zhaparov, and Talant Mamytov of the Ata-Zhurt party, who have been indicted for an attempt to seize power and arrested for two months, intend to hold peaceful rallies in Osh and Jalal-Abad and demand their release.
About 150 supporters of the opposition parliamentarians have gathered in the center of Jalal-Abad. The road connecting Bishkek and Osh, which they blocked to traffic on Friday, has been opened now.
Opposition activists also plan to rally in Osh on Saturday afternoon. "The rally will be peaceful. Its participants are not going to commit unlawful acts have vowed to maintain public order," said one of the rally organizers.
The southern department of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry told Interfax on Saturday that the police in the southern part of the country were put on alert and that security of all strategic facilities and administrative buildings had been tightened.
Bishkek police have also been put on alert. An opposition rally in the capital has been planned for October 10.
Meanwhile, Tashiyev, Zhaparov, and Mamytov called on their supporters through their lawyers not to hold protest rallies.
A rally in support for the idea to nationalize the mountainous gold mine Kumtor was held in the center of Bishkek on October 3 and grew into disturbances and attempts to break into the parliament building.
Tashiyev, Zhaparov, and Mamytov, who were among the participants in the rally, have been indicted for an attempt to violently seize power and arrested for two months pending trial.
