BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz human rights activists have blamed security forces for the death of a suspect who officials say jumped from a high-rise building last month to evade arrest, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
The rights activists told a press conference in Bishkek on August 10 that they hold the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) responsible for the death of Feruzbek Fiziev.
The UKMK said on August 1 that Fiziev resisted arrest during raids against suspected arms dealers on the outskirts of Bishkek on July 29-30.
The committee said Fiziev opened fire and then jumped from a high-rise building. He died later in hospital.
But Bishkek-based human rights defender Sardar Bagyshbekov told RFE/RL that Fiziev was apprehended and tortured by security officers. He said two other arrested suspects told him personally about Fiziev's ordeal.
Bagyshbekov also claimed that human rights activists who had access to Fiziev's body said they noticed numerous traces of torture.
The Prosecutor-General is currently investigating Fiziev's death.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
The rights activists told a press conference in Bishkek on August 10 that they hold the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) responsible for the death of Feruzbek Fiziev.
The UKMK said on August 1 that Fiziev resisted arrest during raids against suspected arms dealers on the outskirts of Bishkek on July 29-30.
The committee said Fiziev opened fire and then jumped from a high-rise building. He died later in hospital.
But Bishkek-based human rights defender Sardar Bagyshbekov told RFE/RL that Fiziev was apprehended and tortured by security officers. He said two other arrested suspects told him personally about Fiziev's ordeal.
Bagyshbekov also claimed that human rights activists who had access to Fiziev's body said they noticed numerous traces of torture.
The Prosecutor-General is currently investigating Fiziev's death.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
