Rights activists concerned over missing colleague

Local Kyrgyz human rights activists have joined with Human Rights Watch (HRW) to express concern over the disappearance of Kyrgyz political activist and human rights defender Tursunbek Akunov, who went missing on 16 November in unclear circumstances. "We are very concerned about our colleague Tursunbek Akunov going missing. This is an unprecedented event and no matter what was going on, public figures, politicians and human rights defenders have never gone missing in Kyrgyzstan before," Edil Baysalov, head of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, a local NGO, told IRIN from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Tuesday. "This is terror and an attempt to threaten and muzzle [rights activists]. Therefore, we cannot accept such a thought like ‘he's gone missing and what of it?' People like Akunov don't go missing for no particular reason," Baysalov added. Emil Aliev, deputy head of the opposition Ar Namys party, told IRIN that Akunov disappeared when he was collecting signatures for getting president Askar Akaev to resign from his post. "It is very difficult to say what's happened to him as the Kyrgyz interior ministry said they hadn't detained him," he added. According to HRW, an international rights watchdog, Akunov was last seen by his wife, Gulia Japarovna, on 16 November. She told HRW that her husband had left home to go to a meeting with an officer from the National Security Service (NSS), but failed to return home that evening. The rights group feared for his safety and considered that his "unexplained disappearance" could be linked with his human rights activism. "He may be in government custody," Rachel Denber, acting executive director of HRW's Central Asia division, said. "We urge the Kyrgyz authorities to find Akunov and assure his safety," she added. Meanwhile, Baysalov added that all the responsibility lied with the law enforcement bodies and special services of Kyrgyzstan. "They are fully responsible for finding him safe and alive and bringing him back to his family and society. We will follow this with utmost seriousness," he said. During the past years, Akunov had repeatedly been detained due to his participation in several public protests, HRW explained. In March 2002, he was detained in Aksy district, southern Kyrgyzstan, when he worked to ease tension between police and protestors demanding the release of their parliamentary representative, Azimbek Beknazarov. The police opened fire and five protestors were killed. However, according to HRW, the authorities blamed Akunov. HRW maintained that the rights defender went missing one week before he was set to organise a series of protests against the government's privatisation of the energy sector and added that he had also recently called for the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission, according to fellow rights activists. And while Aliev said that the international community should put pressure on Bishkek to carry out a full investigation, Baysalov warned the international community that this could be the first step towards a stricter regime in the former Soviet republic. "This could be a beginning of when our soft authoritarian regime drives us towards a society where you can simply disappear if you criticise authorities or defend human rights. We and the international community should not allow this happen," he maintained.