Just three months ago, popular Kyrgyz presidential candidate Seder Japarov was imprisoned on Sunday, mourning his parents and a son, all of whom died in prison.
But in a controversial vote, the October crisis ripped him apart from his cell by supporters, and a court overturned his sentence for being held hostage, when local power brokers took the lead overnight. Stand in line to support the bid.
Japarov’s rise to prominence was so significant that he even distanced Kyrgyzstan’s key ally, Russia, from the defense, sparking speculation about the role of organized crime in high-profile incidents.
Yet it is also characteristic of the former Soviet Union, one of the most volatile countries in Central Asia, where street protests at the ballot box have been gaining political fortunes before and only later. Despite the threat of the corona virus, Japarov’s campaign, which has filled stadiums across the country, was greeted with banners reading “Sadir-Sadr”.
The slogan was used by supporters who rallied in the capital, Bishkek, to demand that Sornbe Janebekov resign in favor of Japarov after a good run in the parliamentary elections over allegations of vote-buying.
Janbekov agreed that he had become the third Kyrgyz leader to resign during the political turmoil since independence from Moscow in 1991, citing the need to avoid bloodshed. Loyal to hold important positions.
Japarov received nearly 80 percent of the vote after an automatic count in the results released Sunday by the former Soviet Central Election Commission (CEC).
Japarov, 52, entered the Kyrgyz political scene as a legislator in 2005 after setting up a small oil business in his native eastern Eskakol region.
Its star came under the tutelage of then-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who appointed him head of the anti-corruption agency in 2008.
But the agency’s investigation never touched Bakiyev’s family.
Bakiyev’s rule was overthrown in 2010, a far more violent revolution than the one that ousted the first post-Soviet president, Askar Akayev, five years ago.
Hundreds of people were claimed dead two months later between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks. A nationalist opposition party that included Japarov among its leaders won parliamentary elections later that year, but was separated from the ruling coalition.
Japarov’s political brand has since been involved in riotous rallies against Canadian operators, Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, which accounts for up to 10 percent of national production but has been plagued by allegations of corruption and environmental concerns.
During a rally in his home province in 2013, the local governor was briefly taken hostage and reduced to petrol. Authorities then opened a criminal case against Japarov, who fled the country.
Japarov used his exile to reach out to the millions of strong Kyrgyz working in Russia and Kazakhstan. When he returned from neighboring Kazakhstan in 2017, Japarov was jailed for hostage-taking and later sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.
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