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Juparkul ArukovaFormer senior consultant to the press service of the Kyrgyz parliament, accused of treason
Country:
 Kyrgyzstan |
Content:
Former Senior Consultant of the Kyrgyz Parliament Accused of State Treason
Former Senior Consultant of the Kyrgyz Parliament Press Service, Zhyparkul Arykova, was arrested in June 2007, accused of gathering information for foreign organizations and subsequently charged with state treason. Prior to June 2007, Arykova worked as a senior consultant for the Kyrgyz Parliament, and was also an employee of the parliamentary radio. She was one of the longest-serving employees of the legislative assembly, with a continuous tenure of seven years.
Arrest and Accusations
Arykova gained media attention on June 19, 2007, when she was apprehended along with an unnamed foreigner during a special operation conducted by Kyrgyz special services. According to the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan, Arykova and the foreign spy were caught red-handed in the act of transferring confidential information. The Committee emphasized that Arykova had been recruited several years prior and had repeatedly provided valuable information to foreign intelligence agencies in exchange for financial rewards.
Controversies and Charges
On June 22, 2007, the IA "Fergana.ru" expressed doubts about Arykova's access to classified documents or papers of special importance, stating that her status did not match the accusations. However, on the same day, the General Prosecutor's Office of Kyrgyzstan issued an arrest warrant for Arykova. Initially, she was charged under Article 302, Part 1, of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, which pertains to the transfer or collection of information constituting official secrets with the intention of passing it to foreign organizations, carrying a penalty of up to three years of imprisonment. On June 25, 2007, it was announced that the charges against Arykova had been reclassified, and she was now accused of state treason under Article 292 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code. According to "24.kg" news agency, this charge marked the first of its kind in the history of independent Kyrgyzstan.
Collaboration and Confessions
On June 27, 2007, the "24.kg" agency, citing sources in the State Committee for National Security, reported that Arykova had agreed to cooperate with the investigation and had started providing confessions. She voluntarily admitted to passing transcriptions of the Republic's legislative assembly sessions, discussing the possible revision of the agreement regarding the placement of anti-terrorist coalition forces at the Kyrgyz "Manas" airbase (leased by the US Air Force) to an interested foreign party. Additionally, Arykova had provided the interested foreign party with draft constitutions of Kyrgyzstan and information about opposition rallies. However, the agency noted that information about the constitution and rallies was public, and the issue of the American base was also openly discussed by parliamentarians in the presence of the press.
According to Arykova's lawyer, Aizhan Kasymaliev, she currently resides with her younger sister Omurtai and her three-year-old son.
