Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Tashiev and the Letter of 75: Charges Reclassified, Sentences Lessened, Confusion Reigns

Both Tashiev’s lawyers and the prosecutors filed appeals after the July verdict, the former seeking complete acquittal and the latter harsher sentencing. Neither has gotten what they asked for.

When the trial of the former head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, ended in July the judge delivered what appeared to be a damning verdict followed by an absurdist reprieve. 

Tashiev – alongside former Speaker of the Zhogorku Kenesh Nurlanbek Turgunbek uulu, former Member of Parliament Kurmankul Zulushev, and five others – was found guilty of a coup attempt under Article 326 (“Violent seizure or retention of power, as well as an attempt to violently change the constitutional order”) of the Kyrgyz criminal code and acquitted of abuse of office charges.

Tashiev and the rest were sentenced to four years in prison – the prosecutors had sought nine. The judge immediately replaced the prison terms with three years of supervised probation. 

Tashiev, technically convicted of a coup attempt, served not a single day in detention.

Both Tashiev’s lawyers and the prosecutors filed appeals, the former seeking complete acquittal and the latter harsher sentencing.

In early September, the Bishkek City Court heard the appeal. Like most of the first trial, the proceedings were held behind closed doors, so what happened next doesn’t have a clear explanation. The court apparently reclassified the charges from a coup attempt under Article 326 to “obstruction of the exercise of electoral rights,” Article 195. 

According to various lawyers representing the defendants, all eight were sentenced to four year prison terms, converted immediately to two years of probation.

Zhoomart Ashirbaev, the lawyer for Zulushev, told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, Azattyk, that they intended to file a cassation appeal with the Supreme Court. 

“The court’s reclassification of the charge from a serious crime to Article 195 demonstrates that the investigation brought an unfounded and unproven charge. I spoke with Kurmankul Zulushev immediately after the verdict was announced. We will file a cassation appeal to the........

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