Bakiev Wins Greater Control of Police

President Kurmanbek Bakiev has increased his own power by giving the prime minister and local government more authority to coordinate the law-enforcement agencies, NBCentralAsia observers say.



On March 22, the president signed a decree giving local government greater powers to coordinate the regular police, secret services and financial police. The order says the aim is to to “protect the legally guaranteed rights and freedoms of citizens, society from being harmed by criminal action”.



From now on, the prime minister and regional chiefs can call coordination meetings, set up working groups and request information from the law-enforcement agencies.



Kurmanbek Osmonov, head of the Supreme Court, says the decree does not mean the prime minister, provincial governors and district chiefs now have a license to meddle in police work.



“The decree means coordination of a general nature in the interests of the state. But every agency will work independently in performing its duties,” he said.



However, according to Azimbek Beknazarov, head of the opposition party Asaba, the decree is designed to strengthen the president’s own powers, given that the constitution was changed last December so that he now appoints local administration heads.



“The prime minister will coordinate the law enforcement agencies, the National Security Service and the prosecutor’s office - that means all the security agencies will be coordinated by the president himself,” said Beknazarov.



Human rights activist Aziza Abdurasulova warned of a “risk that this may lead to the law-enforcement services becoming dependent on central and local government. This can be seen as the authorities trying to increase their powers at the local level. The decree can be estimated as a step towards authoritarianism.”



Other commentators draw attention to a new draft law on the police which was presented for public debate last week, and which says that the police protect not only the individual and society, but also defend the “state against criminal action”.



Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, thinks this wording needs to be changed.



“It is possible that that the authorities now want to grant more powers to the interior ministry agencies [the uniformed police]. That could allow them to use tougher measures against protesters,” he said.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)