The Kyrgyz government should reverse its decision to bar a Russian human rights defender from visiting Kyrgyzstan, Human Rights Watch said today.
On February 26, 2009, Vitalii Ponomarev, director of the Memorial Human Rights Center's Central Asia program, was deported to Russia upon his arrival at Manas airport in the capital, Bishkek, and declared persona non grata. Ponomarev's deportation comes one month after he published a report about religious persecution and torture in Kyrgyzstan.
It was the second time in five months that the Kyrgyz authorities refused entry to a human rights defender.
"Instead of driving out human rights defenders the Kyrgyz government should be open to scrutiny of its human rights record," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "More scrutiny, not less, will lead to positive change in Kyrgyzstan."
Manas Air Base (unofficially Ganci Air Base) is a United States military installation at Manas International Airport, near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, primarily operated by the U.S. Air Force.
The base was opened in December 2001 to support U.S. military operations in the ongoing war in Afghanistan. It has hosted forces from several other International Security Assistance Force member states as well.
On February 3, 2009, Kyrgyzstani President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced that the air base will be closing due to a failure by U.S. and Kyrgyzstani governments to agree on new lease terms. The Kyrgyz Parliament voted to close the base on February 19 by a vote of 78 to one. The next day an eviction notice was delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, requiring the base to be vacated within 180 days.