March 1-7, 2015

1. Religion

Kabar.kg, Privately-Owned Media, 2 March 2015
Fundraising for the state policy in the sphere of religion

• The Kyrgyz government is searching for funding to implement its newly developed religion policy for the year 2014-2020.
  
• Currently, the Kyrgyz Constitution allows for religious freedom - An article from 1 January 2015, centralasiaonline.com, explains the new policy and its foundations:
  
  • The new policy is a response to rising extremist activity globally and in Kyrgyzstan
    
  • The head of Islamic administration in the country, the Spiritual Administration for Muslims of Kyrgyzstan (DUMK) has revised its charter to include greater transparency for the state
    
  • Both the government and DUMK want to stress what they call traditional Islam, and traditional Islamic values.

2. Government

Vb.kg, Privately-Owned Media, 2 March 2015
Present increases limits on the laws of self-defense in the country

• The changes to the limits of self defense have been made with the Law “On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic”
  
• As long are there is no excessive force there is no criminal liability for someone acting in self-defense, including of the act of defense resulted in the death of the attacker.
  
• There is also no liability for using weapons or animals as part of your defense

Kabar,kg, Privately-Owned Media, 6 March 2015
Vice PM calls for cooperation with Tajikistan

• On March 7, the governments of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are scheduled to meet about the delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border
  
• They will also talk about deepening long-term community economic and cultural ties, and stressing good neighborliness between the Kyrgyz-Tajik people.
  
• The undelimited areas of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border have been sites of ethnic violence since the collapse of the Soviet Union

Kabar.kg, Privately-Owned Media, 4 March 2015
Procurement system in Kyrgyzstan highly corrupt

• The system of pubic procurement in Kyrgyzstan is one of the most corrupt in the state
  
• In an effort to counter this, the government has decided to introduce a new electronic system
  
• The electronic system has been introduced on a trial basis
  
• The e-procurement process is meant to be transparent, and excludes government intervention.

3. Crime

24.kg, State-Owned Media, 6 March 2015
The passports of about 50 people in Osh had illegally-obtained passports

• A Kyrgyz official in Osh has been arrested, suspected of issuing false passports
  
• He has been charged with abuse of power, and the illegal issuance of passport, and enter false information for the illegal acquisition of citizenship.
  
• Among the 50 people with illegal passports were Uzbek immigrants.