Demolition in Kok-Zhar: Activist Beknazar Aitaliev arrested until September

The coordinator of the people’s movement Transformation Beknazar Aitaliev was remanded in custody until September 6 in the pretrial detention center No. 1 in Bishkek. Human rights activist Timur Makhmudov told 24-kg.com news agency.

The activist is accused of calls for active disobedience to the legal demands of government officials and mass riots (Part 3, Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic).

On August 7, at a press conference, residents of contour 172^nd of the residential area, including Beknazar Aitaliev, asked President Sadyr Japarov and the head of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev to suspend the chaotic demolition of individual housing buildings covered by the land amnesty.

Demolition of fences and business facilities began on August 5 in Kok-Zhar residential area in Bishkek in the 172^nd contour, which is located near the intersection of Akhunbaev and Dostoevsky streets.

Bishkek Mayor Aibek Dzhunushaliev noted that there are 209 completed residential buildings and 85 foundations, 78 unfinished buildings and 13 business facilities — a service station, a workshop, shops — in the residential area. He asked residents who built their houses illegally to return the land to its original state.