Kyrgyzstan detains activist Rita Karasartova without formal charges News
Nikolai Bulykin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Kyrgyzstan detains activist Rita Karasartova without formal charges

Kyrgyzstan detained the prominent Kyrgyz human rights defender, Rita Karasartova without formal charges on Monday. Amnesty International denounced the detention as an “alarming sign of deepening repression.”

Human rights activist Gul’shaiyr Abdirasulova and local media reported that the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Chui region arrested and questioned Karasartova after conducting a search at her home and confiscating several documents. Local media also reported that the Main authorities have launched a criminal investigation under Article 278 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to mass riots.

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, stated:

Kyrgyzstani authorities must immediately provide a clear legal basis for Rita Karasartova’s detention, ensure that her rights are fully respected and she has access to adequate healthcare. If she is being detained solely for exercising her right to freedom of expression – as seems to be the case – she must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Relatedly, Karasartova shared a letter from Facebook on April 14. The letter was reportedly from a Kyrgyz activist Tilekmat Kurenov who predicted his arrest for a crime he had not committed. Rights group Freedom of Eurasia reported that Kurenov has been missing in the United Arab Emirates since April 10. Prior to this disappearance, the Kyrgyz authorities had arrested him three times since November 2024 on charges of drug possession, fraud and UAE migration law violations. The group maintained that the authorities fabricated these charges to target his activism for transparency and anti-corruption.

Rita was previously among a group of women human rights defenders, including Klara Sooronkulova, Gulnara Dzhurabayeva, and Asya Sasykbayeva, who were detained for eight months for peacefully opposing the transfer of the Kempir-Abad water reservoir to Uzbekistan. In November 2022, during their pre-trial detention, Klara Sooronkulova and Rita Karasartova staged a hunger strike to protest their detention conditions. During the trial on 10 June 2024, the Prosecutor requested a 20-year prison sentence for all four women human rights defenders. However, on 14 June 2024, the Pervomaisky District Court in Bishkek fully acquitted them.

Rita Karasartova was also highlighted in Amnesty International’s 2023 Write for Rights campaign.

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