Nov 09
4
No Surrender (My article for TOL)
On 16 December 2007, my country held parliamentary elections. Two days later, I was arrested by police and jailed for protesting those elections.
I have been detained four times for expressing disagreement with state policy: twice during former President Askar Akaev’s tenure, and twice under current President Kurmanbek Bakiev. Until this last arrest, I had been released after a maximum of five hours. But on 20 December, a judge sentenced me and other like-minded youth to between five and seven days in jail.
The judge sentenced me and other young people – mostly between 18 and 20 years old – for taking part in nonviolent, peaceful action. We had gathered in front of the Central Election Commission (CEC) building holding signs and protesting unfair electoral practices. There were 12 of us jailed — eight men and four women.
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| Mirsulzhan Namazaliev |
At a temporary detention center of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Bishkek Government, the men were put in one ward, the women in another. The building was cold, the wards uncomfortable. The ground floor was full of holes and sewer pipes, which sent a stink through the whole place.
When we arrived there, one of my friends was looking particularly upset. He told me: “I am awe-struck, upset, and disappointed by Kyrgyzstan … and our system. As soon as I get out of this place, I will do my best to leave this country.”
I have had similar thoughts before, too.
FREE GENERATION
I am the co-chairman of the Free Generation Liberal Youth Alliance, a movement aimed at spreading support for individual liberty and a free market in Kyrgyzstan by involving youth in public and political processes. I also write a blog about Kyrgyz politics and events.
The country has a history of undemocratic elections, and of youth protesting them. In 2005, youth helped topple Akaev in the Tulip Revolution. They continued to protest government corruption in the following years.
The most recent election was nothing new. Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other groups declared that the elections were flawed and did not meet international standards. On 24 December, the OSCE chief in Bishkek, Markus Mueller, issued a statement saying in which he deplored the “disproportionate use of force by police, [and] the rude and unjustified arrests of NGO and human rights activists that demonstrated against the improper organization of the elections.”
Final results gave Bakiev’s Ak-Jol party 71 deputies in parliament. The remaining seats in the 90-member body were split between the centrist Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party. By official declaration of the CEC, opposition party Ata-Meken did not have the necessary share of votes from one district to hold seats, although it gained 8.7 percent of the national vote – second only to Ak-Jol. Many people have debated this ruling, however, saying the votes in the single district were miscounted on purpose.
Other parties were not even on the ballot. Twenty-two parties had applied to the CEC for registration in the election, but only twelve were allowed to run. The Green Party and Zamandash (Contemporary) Party, both opposition forces, were prohibited from running.
Ata-Meken and other parties complained that there had been “black PR” during the campaign. Sham leaflets and posters demanding pay-offs for public utilities were distributed under Ata-Meken’s name. Also, opposition parties’ posters were often torn down shortly after being displayed on the streets.
Political parties also lacked equal access to the state press – a criticism echoed by election monitors. Bribes and administrative pressure guaranteed Ak-Jol positive coverage and more broadcast time. So-called public TV channels financed by the state monopolized the airwaves, broadcasting lopsided information in favor of Ak-Jol.
We at Free Generation also learned that during the campaign, Ak-Jol had used Kyrgyz universities illegally to gain support. In a special post-election edition of the newspaper Pluralism, published on 10 January, we revealed a report from the Ministry of Education that informed Ak-Jol of which university administrators are in the party and told of their activities demanding that students vote for the party. Administrators even prevented other parties from campaigning on campuses.
On election day, observers at polling places reported ballot stuffing, voter bribes, and other violations. Dinara Oshurahunova, executive director of the Kyrgyz civic organization Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, said the government had “shamefully stolen our choice.” The Coalition had placed more than 2,000 independent observers at the polls. “I had never seen the people weeping because of the elections,” Oshurahunova said. “But now I have become a witness to adult men and women crying, telling about these elections and the unlawful trickery.”
‘I DON’T BELIEVE’
On 17 December, I and other youth activists decided to protest what we believed were invalid election results. We hoped to catalyze others who opposed the government’s actions. We decided to call our campaign “I don’t believe.”
The next day, more than 25 young people arrived at the CEC headquarters. We carried signs that read “I don’t believe.” We were peaceful, only standing there to make our view clear. Simultaneously, several women in Ata-Meken staged a hunger strike.
Police arrested several of us at the CEC building for carrying out the protest without the permission of local authorities. Officially, we were charged for disobeying the police staff and violating the laws governing peaceful assemblies, demonstrations, and meetings.
| The author enters a police wagon with other young demonstrators. Photos by Timur Raimkulov of kloop.kg |
After being sentenced and transported to the detention center, we found ourselves far from home, even though Bishkek was just outside the walls. Although the police were polite enough, the situation was terrible.
We quickly discovered that in addition to the faulty sewer lines, the bathrooms were leaking. Several men mixed water and soap in a flask and tried to clean the area to alleviate the odor.
It was extremely cold, as it was the middle of December and there were holes around all the windows. We had trouble sleeping, and we were given no blankets. Instead, we slept embracing each other for warmth. I would wake up in the middle of the night shaking. To warm myself, I would sit on a steam pipe in the ward, but the pipe wasn’t powerful enough to warm the room. I told my friends who woke up at night to sit on the pipe as well, to make sure they didn’t freeze.
As far as we could tell, prisoners were fed only once a day. However, we had many supporters outside the detention center who brought us extra food. Some of it we distributed to other wards.
Luckily, we spent time doing manual labor outside, moving snow at a nearby state park. We didn’t mind taking a sip of the Bishkek air.
Our isolation gave us time to talk, about politics and personal matters. We even decided to write an open appeal to all the citizens of our country. To do this, we used scrap of paper and a hand-made pen, fashioned from a piece of a trestle bed.
We never finished writing the appeal, however, because after three days we were released. Our judicial appeals won us discussions with authorities at the Department of Internal Affairs – and finally, freedom.
For now, our judge has been told to suspend his ruling on our actions until another Bishkek court decides whether the city council’s decision to limit peaceful mass meetings was lawful.
When we were walking out of the court building, I asked my friend who had said be wanted to leave Kyrgyzstan if his thoughts had changed. He said they had; all of our discussions in jail and time spent with his fellow activists had given him hope.
It does seem that everyone became stronger and more confident because of the experience. We had a new understanding of personal liberty. I thank the Kyrgyz government for trying to push us down but instead giving us a new lease on what we as youth can do.
“I don’t believe” posters are still glued on walls around Bishkek. In addition to publishing our independent newspaper, we held an expanded youth meeting on 17 January where we discussed the political situation in the country. We decided to establish a new youth movement, involving more people in an informal but powerful network.
One opposition leader, former Member of Parliament Dooronbek Sadyrbaev, recently recommended that all opposition leaders go underground to be safe from government persecution. The youth, however, aren’t going to surrender so easily.
Mirsulzhan Namazaliev is the co-chairman of the Free Generation Liberal Youth Alliance. He is also a blogger on the TOL partner site NewEurasia. He lives in Bishkek.
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=253&NrSection=2&NrArticle=19295
