Guilty verdict in notorious Kyrgyzstan rape case

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KYRGYZSTAN — On August 27, the Moskovsky District Court in Kyrgyzstan's Chui Region sentenced 22-year old Abdulla Osmonov, an ethnic Kurd, to 20 years behind bars for molesting and sexually assaulting a child and driving the girl's grandmother to suicide. The crime triggered ethnic violence in Petrovka when the allegations first came to light last April.

On April 26, several hundred enraged residents of the area's ethnic Russian and Kyrgyz communities descended on the homes of Kurdish locals, including Osmonov's parents. In the violence that ensued, several people received knife injuries and two young men were hospitalised with gunshot wounds. Most of the victims were Kurds and all 15 homes that were attacked also belonged to members of the local Kurdish community.

Following the violence, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev sacked the regional prosecutor and local police chief for “criminal negligence.” Prosecutors had apparently delayed the investigation of Osmonov's case, enraging Petrovka residents, who then took matters into their own hands.

Following the clashes, the village called a meeting of Russian and Kyrgyz elders who demanded that the government conduct a forced expulsion of Kurdish families. In response, Kurdish community leaders called for restraint, pointing out that 500 local Kurds could not be held responsible for one individual’s crimes, but that did not prevent the evictions of 27 Kurds. They "have been obliged to move from place to place, as no one has offered them refuge," according to Kurdish National Association Director Ramazan Seidov.

The four-year old sexual assault victim has been treated for venereal disease and presently lives with her mother and stepfather in Petrovka.

[24.kg, AKIpress.org, Ferghana.ru, KT.kz, CentrAsia.ru, RiaN.ru]