Kyrgyzstan leading opposition party to contest leader’s detention

Kyrgyzstan’s leading opposition party said authorities were trying to destroy it and vowed to fight the detention of its leader, who is accused of treason.

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The Central Asian republic of seven million people has been dogged by political volatility for much of the three decades since it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“We believe the steps taken by the authorities against our leader and party members are criminal,” United Kyrgyzstan wrote on social media late Monday.

It vowed to fight Adakhan Madumarov’s detention “using legal means,” after the leading rival of President Sadyr Japarov was detained over the weekend and remanded in custody until October 24.

Details of the investigation have not been made public but local media has reported the case is linked to a border agreement signed in 2009 with regional rival Tajikistan.

“We have no doubt that the 2009 protocol is just a pretext for the complete destruction of our party and our leader,” the group said.

The party is popular in the south of the country and among migrant laborers working in Russia, which harbors close political and security ties with ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.

Madumarov, 58, is also a leading critic of a border agreement with neighboring Uzbekistan.

The secret services warned after Madumarov’s detention that there would be “no mercy for those who betray the state or those who try to destabilize it,” vowing a “very severe response”.

Kyrgyz secret services have detained several people for trying to overthrow the government.

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