Uzbekistan, Tashkent, September 1 / Trend D. Azizov /
Kyrgyz law enforcement officials are ready to release an employee of the National Security Service and three Uzbek customs officials, illegally detained in August, on bail, lawyer Feruza Valiyeva said.
She said that the National Security Council member and three representatives of the Uzbek State Customs Committee were illegally detained on Aug. 21 by Kyrgyz security forces.
Valiyeva said that the Uzbek citizens were on duty and had tried to stop the smuggling of goods across the border.
"The fact that members of the National Security Council and the Uzbek State Customs Committee were fulfilling their duties by stopping the smuggling of goods across the border in full view of Kyrgyz border guards was not taken into account.
"The Kyrgyz border guards took all possible steps to facilitate the escape of the smugglers. This shows that the goods were being illegally transported across the border with their permission. But the investigation is deliberately turning a blind eye to this, " the lawyer said.
She said that a number of significant violations of international law and legislation of the Kyrgyzstan were revealed while clarifying the circumstances of the citizens' detention and criminal cases filed under Article 346, Part 2 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code (illegal crossing of state border) and Article 234, Part 3 (hooliganism).
The lawyer said that the detainees were stopped from informing their relatives about the arrests and were not given the right to contact the Uzbek diplomatic mission.
"Moreover, I was hired by relatives of detainees as a lawyer and I was banned from gaining access to materials and meet with my clients without any reason," she said.
She also drew attention to the fact that the question of passage through the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, allegedly violated by Uzbek citizens, has not been resolved between the two countries. The boundary in that area is not marked.
According to Article 109 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Procedure Code, bail is fixed at a 1-1,000 ratio (1 equals 100 Kyrgyz soums). The maximum amount of bail must therefore be $2,146.84 given that the rate of $1 equals 46.58 soums, Valiyeva said.
However, in raising the possibility of bail for the Uzbek citizens, the Kyrgyz authorities have asked for $2,500 each, a total of $10,000. The Kygyz lawyer, Shaydullo Sadirov, also wants $430.
According to the Uzbek National Security Service, a criminal group from Kyrgyzstan detained an Uzbek border guard and 12 other citizens on Aug. 30 on the Kyrgyz section of the Vuadil-Shakhimardan transit road near Kadamjay village in the Batken region of southern Kyrgyzstan.
The civilians were released during negotiations.
The people detaining the Uzbek border guard are ready to exchange him for a car loaded with goods that was previously confiscated in Uzbekistan.
Trend reported that Uzbekistan initiated resumption and early completion of the joint intergovernmental commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border with the Kyrgyz government in late July 2010 to prevent conflicts on the uncoordinated parts of the border and ensure security there.
The deputy chairman of the Uzbek National Security Service and commander of the border troops of the National Security Council, Major General Ruslan Mirzayev, and first deputy chairman of the Kyrgyz National Security Council and commander of border troops, Colonel Zakir Tilenov, met under the terms of the border commission.
An agreement was reached for an immediate review of emerging cross-border problems, joint trials and an objective assessment of the existing situation on the border.
The total length of the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan is 1,375 km, of which 300 km is under discussion.
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