Prague, 31 January 1997 (RFE/RL) - The press service of the Kyrgyz Parliament announced today that a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation will visit the Russian State Duma February 10-14. The service said the delegation will be led by Assembly Speaker Usup Mukanbayev. The visit comes at the invitation of the Speaker of the Russian State Duma, Gennadi Seleznyev.
Documents From Trial Of Opposition Leader Sent To UN
The Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of Kyrgyzstan, Ramazan Duruldayev, told our correspondent in Bishkek today that all materials on the trial against opposition leader Topchubek TurgunAliyev have been sent to the UN Human Rights Commission.
Turgunaliev, chairman of the opposition Erkin Kyrgyzstan Party and co-chairman of the opposition movement For Deliverance from Poverty, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Bishkek's municipal court on January 8. He had been accused of embezzlement, but the Kyrgyz opposition says the charges against him were politically motivated.
Turgunaliev's lawyers have appealed the case to the country's Supreme Court. The international pressure group Human Rights Watch/Helsinki sent a letter to President Askar Akayev early this month calling for his release.