Rights activist warns of election violence

A leading rights activist has warned of possible violence in the run-up to next month's parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. "The people will go to streets to protest," Ramazan Dyryldaev, chairman of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, told IRIN from Vienna on Thursday, warning authorities in his homeland could resort to violence. "Kyrgyz opposition and citizens are moving towards a Georgian or Ukraine-like revolution. I am getting information on that from various sources. At least there is already a move in that direction," he said. His comments came one day after a briefing by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) was held in the Austrian capital highlighting violations of international standards by the government of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev in the campaign ahead of the elections, slated for 27 February 2005. Joining Dyryldaev at the meeting were Zamira Sydykova, chief editor of the newspapers ResPublika and Giyas Tokombaev, chairman of the Republican party of Kyrgyzstan, a candidate in the parliamentary elections. According to Dr Aaron Rhodes, executive director of the IHF, there was widespread interference by the state apparatus and the courts (which were very closely related in Kyrgyzstan) in the campaign. "The notion that the government should be neutral, promote a level playing field, and allow the citizens to choose their representatives in the legislative branch, seems absent," he told IRIN. Opposition campaigns were harassed in the form of politically motivated charges by law enforcement officials and the right to peaceful assembly was being violated, the activist charged. "There is no fair use of national electronic media. There is almost no independent media, most having been shut down by the state," he claimed, noting those that remained faced threats and obstruction. Meanwhile, crude, heavy-handed entry into the elections by numerous family members of the ruling elite was particularly disturbing when accompanied by financial inducements to voters in some districts in the form of gifts from what were in effect state industries that had been placed under the private control of these ruling family structures, he maintained. "People are saying that not only has President Akaev taken over the government, now he is trying to take over the parliament and that the authorities will stop at nothing in order to retain political control," Rhodes said. And while Dyryldaev called for greater pressure on Akaev's government to adhere to international standards, he remained pessimistic at the prospects. "He publicly announces that he guarantees that the elections will be fair. However, in reality secret instructions have been given to security forces to suppress peaceful demonstrations if they occur," the Kyrgyz activist maintained, adding a greater contingent of observers and international media to cover the event was needed. But according to Rhodes, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission was already off to a good start. "They have to be tough - they have to tell it like it is and they have to subject the authorities there to the same standards as anywhere, and not buy into the fraudulent excuses the Akaev government has been selling the international community," he said. There was still time to help make this a truly fair election, he added, if the authorities would wake up and realise that their illegal, manipulative tactics would backfire, possibly to their own detriment. Asked what was needed, the IHF official emphasised that Kyrgyzstan's partners in the international community should make it clear that they would deny cooperation to Bishkek if it failed to respect democratic and human rights norms. "They should state this in a way that the Kyrgyz people hear it. If the election is riddled with violations and lacks credibility, other countries should restrict their relations with the Kyrgyz government since it won't clearly be representative. And cooperation with civil society should be strengthened."