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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000071 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (GORKOWSKI) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/29/2020 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PHUM KG
SUBJECT: KYRGYZ OMBUDSMAN BLAMES SECURITY SERVICES FOR 
ABUSES 
 
REF: 09 BISHKEK 1331 
 
BISHKEK 00000071  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  The Kyrgyz Ombudsman for Human Rights 
Tursunbek Akun said in a meeting with the Ambassador that he 
was very concerned about the deteriorating human rights 
situation in Kyrgyzstan.  He asserted that the Kyrgyz State 
National Security Service (SNB) was responsible for the death 
of former Chief of Staff Medet Sadyrkulov, and also for 
recent attacks on journalist Gennadiy Pavlyuk, and Manas 
Airport President Bakyt Sydykov, among others.  In a separate 
meeting, former Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov gave a 
back-handed compliment to President Bakiyev for keeping the 
political opposition in such disorder.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C)  The Ambassador met with Kyrgyz Ombudsman for Human 
Rights Tursunbek Akun on January 25. Akun said that he asked 
for the meeting because he values the Embassy's support in 
his human rights work.  He also said that he was very 
concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in 
Kyrgyzstan.  Akun has served as Ombudsman since March 2008, 
and was presumably selected because of his strong 
relationship with then Presidential Chief of Staff Medet 
Sadyrkulov. 
 
It's All Part of a Chain 
------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (C)  The Ambassador asked Akun for his views on the 
recent series of assaults on journalists.  Akun replied that 
they are all links in a chain, going back to the death of 
former Presidential Chief of Staff Medet Sadyrkulov in March 
¶2009.  Echoing the suspicions of most of our interlocutors, 
Akun said that Sadyrkulov's death was not an accident -- he 
was murdered because of his contacts with the opposition, and 
because he had pushed President Bakiyev to cut his family out 
of the government.  Akun said that SNB Chairman Murat 
Sutalinov, and ultimately Janysh Bakiyev, was responsible for 
Sadyrkulov's death.  Akun said that they had also ordered the 
November attack on Manas Airport President Bakyt Sydykov 
(who, according to Akun, was XXXXXXXXXXXX injured far more 
severely than was publicly acknowledged), the December murder 
of journalist Gennadiy Pavlyuk, and several other assaults. 
According to Akun, Sutalinov keeps the SNB's hands clean by 
using hired thugs from Jalalabad to carry out attacks. 
 
¶4.  (C)  Akun said that he was well-informed of Sadyrkulov's 
activities at the time of his death, because he was one of 
Sadyrkulov's three closest friends.  Regarding Sadyrkulov's 
relationship with Oksana Malevanaya, the current head of the 
Presidential Secretariat, Akun said that they had been close, 
"if you consider having children together close."  However, 
Malevanaya and Sadyrkulov had a falling out shortly before 
Sadyrkulov resigned as the President's Chief of Staff and 
left the government.  According to Akun, Sadyrkulov opposed 
on principle the idea of setting up a Presidential 
Secretariat. 
 
Sadyrkulov's Mistake 
-------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  Akun said that he maintained good relationships with 
the opposition, and for that reason, Bakiyev had asked him to 
broker a deal with Ata Meken following the 2007 Parliamentary 
elections.  Akun said that Ata Meken honestly won 30 seats in 
the Parliament, but Sadyrkulov told him to go to Omurbek 
Tekebayev, the head of the Ata Meken Party, and offer him 12 
seats.  Tekebayev refused, and requested 20 seats, but before 
Sadyrkulov could respond, Bakiyev intervened, and decided 
that Ata Meken should not have any seats in the Parliament. 
Akun said that allowing Ata Meken to be shut out of the 
Parliament had been one of Sadyrkulov's biggest mistakes. 
 
 
BISHKEK 00000071  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (C)  Akun said that he would soon send his annual report 
on human rights to Parliament, and that it would highlight 
the judicial harassment of political opposition members, and 
also discuss illegal actions taken by government leaders 
during the Presidential campaign and election.  When the 
Ambassador asked him if the report would include everything 
that he had just discussed, he smiled, and said that he is 
just a man, and he has to survive to do his job. 
 
He's Bad, but Good 
------------------ 
 
¶7.  (C)  At a separate meeting, the Ambassador talked with 
former Foreign Minister during the Akayev regime, Askar 
Aitmatov, about the current state of the political 
opposition.  Aitmatov said that the opposition was in 
complete disarray, directly blaming President Bakiyev's 
efforts to stifle it.  In the same breath, Aitmatov 
complimented President Bakiyev for being a strong leader and, 
curiously, indicated that the political opposition also 
viewed him positively because he had so successfully 
consolidated political power over the country. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (C)  Akun has a lengthy history as both a human rights 
activist and as a publicity seeker.  He claims, with some 
truth, that he has been successful as an advocate for victims 
of government corruption and persecution.  However, according 
to sources in the NGO community, Akun is not above selling 
his services to families in search of lighter sentences for 
their sons or daughters.  Akun is more willing to criticize 
publicly the government's human rights shortcomings than any 
other government official, but he steers well clear of any 
criticism of President Bakiyev or his family in public.  Akun 
sees himself as a bridge between the government and the 
democracy and human rights communities. 
GFOELLER 

=======================CABLE ENDS============================