Kyrgyz authorities on April 14, 2025, detained a human rights defender, claiming she has ties to a criminal case, Human Rights Watch said today. The activist, Rita Karasartova, was detained for 48 hours in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, with a hearing about extending her detention set for April 16.
Karasartova posted on her personal Facebook page that the police may have been looking for her because she published a letter from Tilekmat Kurenov, a civil society activist who is feared forcibly disappeared by Kyrgyz authorities. A media report said the police claim Karasartova has "close ties" with the main suspects in a case, who are being charged with "fomenting of mass riots."
"It seems that authorities detained Karasartova not based on evidence of criminal wrongdoing, but because she published a letter and is allegedly close to other suspects," said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "She should be freed immediately and no charges should be pursued against her."
According to her daughter, approximately 12 police officers, 3 of them masked and armed, searched their home on April 14 without a search warrant, while Karasartova was not there. She was detained outside a shopping mall, where she was on personal business, as the search was ongoing at her home. She is currently being held at Chuy regional police headquarters, outside of Bishkek.
Kurenov, whose letter Karasartova posted, is a main target in a criminal investigation into opposition activists ongoing since January 2024, in which authorities are pursuing charges of calling for and preparing mass riots and attempting to seize power. Kurenov disappeared from Dubai on April 10 after Kyrgyz authorities spent months unsuccessfully seeking to extradite him from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Human Rights Watch has seen an interrogation protocol documenting the authorities' questioning of Karasartova in detention that focuses entirely on her relationship with Kurenov and whether she supports his political opposition to the Kyrgyz government.
Karasartova published Kurenov's letter that contained a message to his family on her personal Facebook page. Kurenov had asked that it be published in the event of his disappearance.
On April 9, the Kyrgyz State Committee on National Security (SCNS) made a public statement alleging that they had uncovered a plot to seize power, and that one of the alleged leaders was in the UAE. The committee said that the plotters intended to incite mass unrest on "ethno-nationalist grounds" to discredit the authorities.
Chuy district police also detained two other Kyrgyz citizens on April 14 whom they identified as "supporters of Kurenov" on suspicion of involvement in the alleged plot.
Karasartova is one of over 20 civil activists, bloggers, journalists, and human rights defenders whom Kyrgyz authorities detained en masse in October 2022 due to their public disagreement over the transfer of the Kempir-Abad dam to Uzbekistan. Karasartova spent eight months in pretrial detention before being released under house arrest. A Bishkek district court acquitted all Kempir-Abad detainees in June 2024, but the prosecution has appealed and the case is ongoing.
For the past year, Kyrgyz authorities have been systematically detaining and prosecuting journalists, bloggers, poets, and civil rights activists on charges of fomenting mass disorder or calling for mass riots.
Kyrgyzstan's international partners should urge the Kyrgyz authorities to release Karasartova and not to pursue any charges against her. They should also urge the authorities to provide information on Kurenov's whereabouts and to ensure that he is immediately brought before an independent judge and accorded his full due process rights, including access to a lawyer of his choosing and an independent medical exam.
During the first European Union-Central Asia Summit on April 4 and 5, as part of the agreements and pledges made there, Kyrgyzstan made commitments to respect freedom of expression and of association, to create an enabling environment for civil society and independent media, and to protect human rights defenders. It is critical that the EU now hold them to their commitments.
"Kyrgyz authorities should uphold their international human rights obligations and release Karasartova immediately," Sultanalieva said. "Criticizing the authorities is not a call for mass disorder, but the exercise of a fundamental human right that Kyrgyz authorities need to respect and protect."
