Azimbek Beknazarov Former Prosecutor General of Kyrgyzstan Country: Kyrgyzstan

Biography of Azimbek Beknazarov

Azimbek Anarkulovich Beknazarov was born in 1956 in the village of Kara-Suu in the Aksy district of the Jalal-Abad region in southern Kyrgyz SSR. His parents, a shepherd and a dairywoman, wanted him to become a shepherd too, but Azimbek excelled in school and dreamed of becoming a lawyer. After finishing school in 1974, he worked on a construction site and attempted to enter the law faculty of the Kyrgyz State University, but failed the entrance exams. After serving in the army, he worked for a while at the Kyzyl-Tuu collective farm, and then went to study in Uzbekistan. In 1982, Beknazarov enrolled in the Tashkent Law College. While studying there, he also worked as a guard in a kindergarten and as a janitor. He graduated from the law faculty at the age of 35. After graduating from university in 1991, Beknazarov began working as an investigator and later became a senior investigator at the Jalal-Abad regional prosecutor's office. In 1996, he became a judge at the October District Court in Bishkek and held this position until 1999, when he was transferred to the Ak-Talinsky district of the Naryn region. Beknazarov disagreed with the assignment to a rural area and decided to pursue a career in politics. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the republic (Jogorku Kenesh) from the Aksy constituency No. 16 in the Jalal-Abad region.
In 2001, Beknazarov, who became the chairman of the parliamentary committee on judicial and legal issues, gained fame as a vocal critic of the country's president, Askar Akayev. The lawyer accused the head of state of illegally transferring 125,000 hectares of Kyrgyz territory to China. The territorial division agreements with China were signed in 1996 and 1999, and demarcation of the borders began before the ratification of the agreement by the Kyrgyz parliament, in violation of the constitution. On January 5, 2002, Beknazarov was arrested in the Jalal-Abad region on charges of abuse of power. His arrest sparked mass protests in the Jalal-Abad region and Bishkek. During the suppression of one of the demonstrations in support of Beknazarov, six people were killed and over 90 were injured. On March 20, 2002, Beknazarov was released on his own recognizance, and the criminal case against him was not closed. The protests calling for the denunciation of the border agreement with China continued, and Beknazarov initiated the impeachment procedure against Akayev in Jogorku Kenesh, but the president remained in office until his voluntary resignation in 2005. In October 2002, Beknazarov was elected chairman of the National Revival Party of Kyrgyzstan "Asaba" ("Flag"), and in 2004, he became the deputy chairman of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the chairman of the Central Council of the United Opposition Political Forces "People's Movement of Kyrgyzstan" (NDK).
In March 2005, parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan. Beknazarov was one of the few opposition members re-elected to Jogorku Kenesh. The opposition, led by Bakiyev, did not recognize the election results, and a "Tulip Revolution" occurred in Kyrgyzstan. The incumbent president, Askar Akayev, was forced to flee to Kazakhstan. After Akayev's resignation, the Supreme Court invalidated the election results of the third convocation Jogorku Kenesh, and the second convocation Jogorku Kenesh elected Bakiyev as the head of government and interim president. Beknazarov actively participated in the state coup and the coming to power of Bakiyev. He became the chairman of the "Coordination Council of National Unity," which brought together opposition movements in the country, earning him the nickname "Bulldozer of the March Revolution." On March 28, Bakiyev appointed Beknazarov as the acting Prosecutor General of Kyrgyzstan, and he was subsequently confirmed in the position. As the head of the Prosecutor General's Office of Kyrgyzstan, Beknazarov initiated criminal proceedings against Akayev, his family, and officials from the previous government. He announced that government officials from Akayev's administration would be exempt from liability if they voluntarily returned embezzled funds to the state budget. In June 2005, the prosecutor's office returned approximately 53 million soms (about 37 million rubles) to the budget. However, Beknazarov was criticized in the press for not imprisoning any of the defendants in the corruption cases he initiated. Moreover, in 2007, Beknazarov himself confessed to accepting a bribe of $500,000 from Daniyar Usenov in exchange for Usenov being appointed as Deputy Prime Minister (Usenov denied giving the bribe). Beknazarov stated that the "Tulip Revolution" had nothing to do with the Ukrainian "Orange Revolution" or the Georgian "Rose Revolution" and was a people's revolution. He also advocated for transforming Kyrgyzstan into a parliamentary republic.
While serving as the Prosecutor General, Beknazarov was included in the Constitutional Assembly of Kyrgyzstan and was involved in the preparation of a new constitution. However, Beknazarov's collaboration with the new government was short-lived. In September 19, the president dismissed him for "gross violations of the law" and "demonstrated personal interest" in the investigation of the March riots in Osh. After leaving the government, Beknazarov returned to the opposition and asked his supporters not to engage in protests "to avoid bloodshed." In December 2005, Beknazarov was elected as a deputy to Jogorku Kenesh from the Aksy constituency No. 20. In the opposition, Beknazarov criticized Bakiyev for surrounding himself with people from Akayev's administration, increasing corruption in the country, and reneging on the promised reforms during the "Tulip Revolution." He also accused the president of appointing his relatives to government positions and agreeing to transfer disputed territories and resorts on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul to Kazakhstan. Beknazarov also criticized the chairman of the opposition party "Ar-Namys" ("Dignity"), Felix Kulov, for calling for the unification of Kyrgyzstan with the Russian Federation. According to Beknazarov, the root of the problems in independent Kyrgyzstan was the clan-based system.
From 2006 onwards, Beknazarov was part of the opposition movement "For Reforms!" He also served as co-chairman of the "Asaba" party from 2006 to 2007. In 2007, Beknazarov left the "For Reforms!" movement and founded the "For a United Kyrgyzstan" movement together with Roza Otunbayeva, Dooronbek Sadyrbaev, Almaz Atambayev, and Edil Baisalov. In the early parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan in December 2007, the "Asaba" party received three percent of the vote and did not enter Jogorku Kenesh, resulting in Beknazarov losing his parliamentary mandate. In 2008, Beknazarov led the semi-underground "Revolutionary Committee of Kyrgyzstan," which aimed to overthrow Bakiyev. In December 2008, he joined the Political Bureau of the United National Movement (OND), a new opposition alliance that aimed to achieve the early resignation of President Bakiyev and "fundamental changes to the political system in the country." Beknazarov was considered a member of the radical wing of the movement. In April 2009, Beknazarov was expelled from the "Asaba" party for "violating the party's statutes." Additionally, the party refused to participate in the OND. Beknazarov continued to actively participate in the country's politics and pursued his legal career. In 2008, he became the defense lawyer for Ishenbay Kadyrbekov, the former head of the State Agency for Architecture and Construction of Kyrgyzstan, who was accused of corruption (he was conditionally sentenced to six years in prison in January 2010).
In March 2010, the opposition presented a series of political and economic demands to the Kyrgyz government. On April 6, 2010, protests by opposition forces began in the city of Talas in northeastern Kyrgyzstan, which escalated into riots and spread to the capital and some other cities the next day. As a result of the unrest, dozens of people were killed, and over a thousand were injured. On April 7, Bakiyev signed a decree declaring a state of emergency in the country, which included a ban on holding mass events. Nevertheless, the opposition managed to take control of Bishkek. After these events, the government resigned, and Otunbayeva led the interim government formed by the opposition ("government of people's trust"). Beknazarov was appointed responsible for courts and oversight agencies in the interim government.
Before being elected as a deputy, Beknazarov was commonly known as Ishterman (a hard worker). He is married to his former classmate, Gulumkan Shergazieva Mamakeeva. They have three children: Ruslan, Ernis, and Toktogul. The family also raised Beknazarov's brother's children after his brother, who was the head of one of the tax inspection departments in Novosibirsk, was killed by racketeers. Beknazarov enjoys hunting and skiing and is fluent in Kyrgyz, Russian, and French.