A Kyrgyz teenager has reportedly committed suicide after being snatched as a bride in northern Kochkor district.
Munara Beknazarova of Bishkek-based nongovernmental organization Aikyn Bagyt (Clear Direction) told RFE/RL on October 14 that an 18-year-old woman hanged herself after she was abducted by a family in the Issyk-Kul district this month.
Meanwhile, Kochkor district officials and local police denied the report by Beknazarova, saying that the incident had never taken place.
Beknazarova said the young woman, whose name was not disclosed, told a friend by phone before her suicide that she had been kidnapped and forced to be the wife of a man she did not know.
Beknazarova said the woman's parents had not informed police about their daughter but that Aikyn Bagyt did.
Kyrgyz rights activists say about 12,000 Kyrgyz women are abducted and forced into marriage every year.
