GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND consciousness’’, without defining these DISCRIMINATION concepts. Activists expressed concerns that Domestic violence remained widespread. this could be used to unduly restrict the right Survivors remained discouraged from to freedom of peaceful assembly. reporting abuse, due to economic In March, municipal authorities in the dependence on the perpetrator and social capital, Bishkek, obtained a court order stigma. banning all assemblies in the centre of There were no comprehensive or unified Bishkek for two months on the grounds that statistics on domestic violence and figures rallies disturb local residents “resulting in varied across different government bodies. negative feelings and concerns about By September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs personal safety”. The ban was overturned by had registered 7,665 incidents, a 30% a court in April following an appeal by a civil increase compared to 2020. society movement. Women with disabilities faced greater In April, a peaceful rally against violence barriers in reporting domestic violence. In against women in Bishkek was disrupted by February Almira Artykbek-kyzy was finally about 200 men who harassed the able to leave the family home with the participants. Police took no action to protect assistance of her brother and report the years the peaceful demonstrators. of sexual and physical abuse perpetrated FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION against her by some family members. Almira Artykbek-kyzy, who suffers from cerebral Journalists and civil society activists critical of palsy, had been denied an education, the authorities faced harassment, deprived of legal capacity and kept a virtual intimidation, and in some cases unfounded prisoner in the family home. A criminal case criminal charges. brought against her relatives was ongoing at In February, the civil defamation case the end of the year. against two leading independent media outlets, Radio Azattyk and Kloop, and a WOMEN’S RIGHTS journalist, brought by the family of a former In July, the president approved a new top customs official, was dropped, after the “concept on spiritual-moral development and official was found guilty of corruption in physical education of individuals”. This calls criminal proceedings. on state bodies to promote traditional values In March, civil society activist Tilekmat and recommends that media outlets Kurenov was detained and later charged with propagate the values of a traditional society “calling for mass riots” (through his posts on [and] the ideals of the family. social media) and for the “violent overthrow On 16 November, Altyn Kapalova, a feminist of the government”. In April, he was artist and writer, lost a final appeal at Bishkek transferred to house arrest and on 20 August City Court in her case against the State he was convicted and sentenced to one and Registration Service in favour of putting a half years in prison. He had been among matronymics instead of patronymics in the the organizers of a peaceful rally against the passports of her three children. new Сonstitution. FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY Also in March, officers from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) Protesters demonstrating peacefully against questioned Aprel TV journalist, Kanat the new Constitution and in favour of gender Kanimetov, about his coverage of a previous equality were subjected to intimidation by investigation carried out by the SCNS. In state and non-state actors. April, his relatives in his family home in Article 10 of the new Constitution allows Balykchy were questioned and threatened restrictions on events that contradict “moral with being searched. and ethical values’’ or “the public Amnesty International Report 2021/22 227