Kyrgyzstan brings back citizens arrested in Tajikistan

Eleven citizens of Kyrgyzstan who were under arrest in Tajikistan have been brought back to their homeland.

The statement came from Aidarbek Khaydarov, who has been detained in the pre-trial detention centre in the Tajik city of Khujand since October 24, 2021, Gazeta.ru reports citing the Kyrgyz Azattyk newspaper.

Khaydarov said 10 more Kyrgyz citizens were handed over to Kyrgyzstan along with him. He could not provide additional information, referring to the relevant requirements of law enforcement agencies.

According to the newspaper, Khaydarov’s father Umarbay Khaydarov said that those released from custody are doing well.

"They were handed over near the Kyzyl-Bel checkpoint in the Batken region. Some 11 people were released. Since representatives of law enforcement agencies said that they would bring them themselves, we did not go there," he explained.

Umarbay Khaydarov said that six of the released citizens were taken to the police station in Dzhany-Dzher village of Leilek District and four were sent to Bishkek.

All of them were detained at different times by the Tajik authorities on suspicion of illegally crossing the border.
The official bodies of Kyrgyzstan have not yet commented on this.

Earlier, the plenipotentiary representative of the president of Kyrgyzstan in the Batken region, Abdikarim Alimbaev, reported that the official bodies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began the process of exchanging detained citizens of neighbouring countries. Thus, on June 3, the Leilek District Court released 11 Tajiks who were in custody, and fined each of them 50,000 soms ($605).

In April, the Prosecutor General's Office of Kyrgyzstan reported that 13 Kyrgyz citizens were serving sentences in prisons in Tajikistan, two of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment.

In mid-February, it was reported that in 2021, 39 citizens of Kyrgyzstan were detained in Tajikistan while illegally crossing the border, and they were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment.