Kyrgyz Politician's Death Widens Opposition-Government Gulf

Allegations surrounding a car crash in which a leading politician is feared dead have done further damage to the already tense relationship between government and opposition in Kyrgyzstan.



There is no evidence to suggest that the crash on March 13 believed to have killed Medet Sadyrkulov, the head of the Kyrgyz president’s administration until January, was anything other than an accident.



However, in the heightened political mood in Kyrgyzstan, the case has added fuel to the fire.



After hopes of a new deal in Kyrgyz politics were raised by a first round of negotiations with the authorities earlier this month, opposition parties are now boycotting the talks process because a number of leading members have been prosecuted in what they see as a political witch-hunt.



All the signs are that Sadyrkulov’s reported death has dealt a final blow to any chance of a resumption in the dialogue.



The accident happened early on the morning of March 13, when a vehicle careered off the road, hitting a stationary car and causing an explosion. The driver of the first car was able to escape and summon help, but three people in the parked vehicle died.



It is feared one of them was Sadyrkulov, who is known to have borrowed the car concerned. However, the interior ministry has not confirmed this, because the bodies were badly burnt.



“We cannot say precisedly who it was until DNA analysis has been carried out,” minister Moldomusa Kongantiev told reporters.



A health ministry official later said the test would have to be done in neighbouring Kazakstan, and would take ten to 15 days



Interior minister spokesman Bakyt Seitov said the driver of the other vehicle was being questioned as police tried to work out why the crash resulted in a devastating fire.



Although the investigation is ongoing, a number of opposition leaders have seized on the accident, alleging that Sadyrkulov was murdered for political reasons. They say the former presidential chief of staff was in talks with the opposition and that he was planning to raise funds for anti-government protests.



Sadyrkulov’s resignation on January 8 was the most noteworthy in a series of moves that amounted to a comprehensive reshuffle by President Kurmanbek Bakiev. Analysts said he was on the losing side in a power-struggle taking place among three rival political groupings in the elite.



Appointed in 2007, Sadyrkulov was seen as a Bakiev ally who helped the administration to weather a series of anti-government demonstrations, and later to weaken the opposition by coopting several of its members.



Since his departure from office, Sadyrkulov is said by opposition members to have been manoeuvring to reposition himself on the political landscape.



“Medet Sadyrkulov had recently been meeting opposition leaders and was planning to play an organising role in [anti-government] rallies,” Green Party leader Erkin Bulekbaev told IWPR. “He had powerful connections in Kazakstan and Russia which could have helped him on a range of issues.”



On March 14, the main opposition coalition, the United People’s Movement, announced the start of a wave of protest rallies later this month. They continue to press for Bakiev’s resignation at the top of their list of demands, but they have added a new one – a parliamentary commission to investigate Sadyrkulov’s death.



That appears to spell an end to the already halting talks process, which was launched after March 3 press conference at which President Bakiev offered his opponents an olive branch, saying he was prepared to work with “any party, even the radical ones”.



Opposition leaders accepted the offer, albeit grudgingly, saying they wanted the government to stop the “political repression” they said was being directed against them.



In the last couple of months, charges have been brought against a number of opposition leaders. Ata Meken leader Omurbek Tekebaev was detained in January and accused of a firearms offence, but the charges were subsequently dropped. Green Party leader Bulekbaev was accused of the criminal offence of besmirching President Bakiev’s good name, and Uluu Birimdik leader Emilbek Kaptagaev was prosecuted on corruption allegations.



On March 11, a day after the first round of talks took place, a court ordered Alikbek Jekshenkulov, a former foreign minister who now heads the Movement for Justice, to be detained for one month pending a police investigation. Jekshenkulov had been arrested two days earlier on suspicion of the murder of a Turkish national in December 2007.



Opposition leaders said it would be hypocrisy to continue the talks, and called off a meeting scheduled for March 13. The president’s office responded with a statements insisting that the opposition had offered “no weighty reasons” for withdrawing from talks, and had not given the authorities time to respond to allegations that earlier criminal charges were politically motivated.



The authorities, meanwhile, have urged the public – and especially the opposition – not to jump to hasty conclusions in the wake of Sadyrkulov’s death.



At a March 16 press conference, Interior Minister Kongantiev issued a plea not to use this human tragedy for political ends.



“It is unpleasant that certain individuals are advancing various versions of events in order to score political points, even before an examination of the incident scene has been completed,” he said. “I regard it as heartless to exploit people’s misfortune.”



Some commentators say it is unwise to be speculating about Sadyrkulov’s death as long as the facts that are available do not point to murder.



In the view of political analyst Marat Kazakpaev, “This is a tragic coincidence”.



Anara Yusupova and Mirgul Akimova are pseudonyms for journalists in Bishkek.