According to the interviewee, Jeenbekov tried to prevent what is happening now in Ukraine.
Ex-President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev lobbied for the highest position of Sooronbai Jeenbekov. However, in the future, the alliance between politicians came to an end. Suddenly, an investigation against Atambaev started. He was imprisoned for 11 years for helping in organizing the release of a criminal boss. Considering the history, it seems very unusual. Everyone is used to articles about corruption, seizure of power, embezzlement of money. During the October revolution in 2020 Atambayev was quickly released and also soon sent back to jail.
A month and a half later, the Supreme Court overturned the sentence against the ex-president. The case will be reviewed again. Such zigzags in the fate of Atambayev are a reason for CentralAsia.news to discuss the intricacies of Kyrgyzstan’s internal policy with expert Yevgeny Kudryats, to understand why no one overthrew Atambayev, but he was still declared a criminal.
Why was he imprisoned?
After Sooronbai Jeenbekov was elected president, law enforcement agencies gradually began to initiate criminal cases against Atambayev’s supporters. The public in Kyrgyzstan was extremely surprised when the ex-president, who was still popular with the people, also fell under the article.
Yevgeny Kudryats does not consider the fact that Jeenbekov gave the signal to start an investigation against Atambayev surprising. The interviewee noted that Jeenbekov wanted to avoid the situation that occurred in Ukraine.
— The President of Kyrgyzstan gave the signal for the criminal prosecution of Atambayev in 2019 so that he could not organize opposition activities against him. Analyzing the situation in Ukraine, it is obvious that everything happens within a similar scenario: the former president of the country, Poroshenko, is trying in every possible way to annoy the incumbent President Zelensky, which leads to the destabilization of the political life of Ukraine, — said the interviewee.
Jeenbekov had an administrative resource to neutralize his opponent and he used it.
It was not possible to «take» Atambaev out of the game so fast. Hundreds of supporters gathered at his residence in the village of Koy-Tash to prevent the arrest. At that time there was a version that law enforcement officers would back down or give Atambayev a «discount» in case of voluntary surrender. However, the security forces did not even think to concede. Kudryats recommends taking a look at history again in order to understand the position of the Kyrgyz authorities.
— If the government shows weakness at least once, then people will immediately feel it and try to get rid of this government. And that, by the way, happened in Georgia, when Eduard Shevardnadze was ousted, and in Armenia, when Nikol Pashinyan came to power against the background of protests, — said the expert.
The release of Atambayev, and then his second detention, demonstrates a split in society, noted the interviewee. It was a «black mark» for the then President Jeenbekov. Some part of the population thus showed distrust of the leader of Kyrgyzstan.
Atambayev’s sins and refusal to revenge
Undoubtedly, there is a part of the population in Kyrgyzstan who believes that Atambayev was sent to jail only because he tried to interfere in the policy of President Jeenbekov and dictate what to do.
Yevgeny Kudryats is sure that during his years in office, Atmbaev could have repeatedly violated the law. However, the investigation of all possible incidents can hit many major political figures in the republic.
— Atambayev is in jail for a reason: he has a sufficient number of various sins, including abuse of power, bribes, seizure of business through relatives and his people. But it is quite obvious that he will not want to answer for the crimes of others on his own, so it will lead to other defendants, — belives Kudryats.
The interviewee considers the revision of the verdict against Atambaev quite logical. In his opinion, the current government wants to show everyone, especially the supporters of the ex-leader, that they stand for objective justice and at the same time, to exclude the factor of revenge in the defendant’s case.
— As for the politicization of the process against Atambayev, it is, unfortunately, inevitable, since we are talking about the highest official of the republic. On the other hand, such processes can become a good «vaccine» for the current government of Kyrgyzstan, so that it does not repeat the mistakes of the previous government, — added the expert.
