EU is very much concerned about recent incidents, related to the ban for foreign human rights leaders to visit Kyrgyzstan.
It has to be mentioned that, Nigina Bakhrieva, a well known Tajik human rights advocate, who had been invited, inter alia, by the Voice of Freedom to conduct a training course for the Ombudsman office staff, was denied entry into Kyrgyzstan and informed about a ten year ban from visiting the country. Unofficial sources indicate that such ban in relation to Nigina may be reasoned by so-called "Nookat events". Kyrgyz authorities may suspect that she is providing advice about how to file complaints with regard to the verdicts relating to the protests in Nookat.
Moreover, in mid-November Bakhrom Hamroev, a Russian human rights defender, conducting research into possible human rights violations by Kyrgyz law enforcement authorities in southern Kyrgyzstan, was repeatedly obstructed in his work and eventually detained together with his Kyrgyz colleague Izzatilla Rakhmatillaev and deported.
On a similar note, in February this year, the director of Memorial’s Central Asia program Vitaly Ponomarev was also deported and declared persona non grata. He had published a report on "Nookat events" that could be a reason for his ban.
In October 2008, Ivar Dale from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee was banned to visit Kyrgyzstan in the airport when he arrived by Moscow-Bishkek flight.
In view of these four cases within the past 14 months, the EU is concerned about a worrying trend in Kyrgyzstan to obstruct the work of human rights defenders. The EU urged the Kyrgyz authorities to end harassment of human rights defenders, allow them to enter the country and ensure that independent engagement for human rights is possible. The EU invites them to take advantage of the assistance and expertise offered by the OSCE and its institutions, in particular the ODIHR, on human rights issues. The EU continues to stand ready to cooperate closely and constructively with the Kyrgyz Republic in the framework of Human Rights Dialogue.
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