At a committee meeting on April 25, Akhmatbek Keldibekov Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, proposed a bill “On weapons”, according to which members of the Jogorku Kenesh will have the right to bear arms as a means of defense.
Under the new bill, MPs would be able to carry weapons with the permission of the Speaker of the Parliament, but the MP would have to provide adequate reasons before obtaining a license.
According to Kenzhebek Bokoev, an MP from the Respublika faction, the law “On the status of deputies” examines the potential provision of weapons for MPs following consent of the speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, who bears responsibility for the safety of members of parliament.
Bokoev believes that the right to bring weapons into the Jogorku Kenesh or parliamentary offices should be considered by members of the Committee on Ethics and Rules.
An MP from the Ata-Meken fraction, Zhoomart Saparbayev, believes that we must take into account the fact that “in our recent political history there are sufficient facts, when there have been direct threats to MPs.
“Unfortunately, some elected officials were killed in such threats. And all this happened with the quiet consent of the authorities,” Saparbayev told Kloop.kg.
While Saparbayev maintains that MPs should have a right to defend themselves, he believes that a parliamentarian’s main weapons should be “their deeds and words.”
Opinions outside the parliament
In a blog entitled Kyrgyzstan: Parliament Speaker Wants Lawmakers to Have Guns , Eurasianet Central Asia editor David Trilling questioned the logic of a new law legitimizing firearms possession in a country that has suffered “enough bloodshed”.
“Akmatbek Keldibekov, a leader of the nationalist Ata-Jurt party, has proposed legislation giving him the right to determine which of the deputies can – and which cannot – come packing,” writes Trilling referring to a report by Kyrgyz news agency KyrTag.
Trilling alludes to the fact that much of the violence doing the rounds in the national parliament radiates out of Keldibekov’s own party, Ata-Jurt.
“Co-leader [of Ata-Jurt] Kamchybek Tashiev is building a reputation for punching his foes. After one of his altercations, officers from the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) seized at least 11 guns, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle, from deputies and their bodyguards,” Trilling noted.
The journalist also noted that a second MP from the Ata-Jurt ranks, Jyldyz Joldosheva, “threatened to strike another female deputy who refused to give her the floor” at a recent parliamentary session.
Human rights activist Diana Oshurahunova, leader of the NGO Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, is in agreement.
“I think you can’t give weapons to Mps who can’t control themselves – its extremely dangerous,” she said.
“Especially when they behave as aggresively as they do at the parliamentary meetings currently broadcasted to the whole country – I can only imagine what they would do with these weapons when they lose their temper. Better to increase their knowledge, character, behaviour and education.”
However, at least two Kloop.kg readers reacted positively to the proposal.
In a comment under the original article [ru], one reader who called herself Natalia said: “They have all gone mad. I am speechless. But on the other hand let [the law pass]. Let them kill each other to hell as needs be.”
A reader called Nurbek agreed. “I am FOR this law,” he wrote. “Let them shoot at each other in the Jogorku Kenesh.”
Author: Chris Rickleton