Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov signed a bill amending the national flag on December 22, two days after lawmakers approved it in a final reading.
The lawmakers have said the wavy yellow rays of a sun on a red field of the old flag resembled a sunflower. The Kyrgyz word for sunflower is “kunkarama,” but it also means “dependent.” According to the lawmakers, the law allows the “straightening” of the sunrays to make the image look more like a sun, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
Several rallies protesting the change have been held in Kyrgyzstan since it was proposed in October.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a December 22 statement urged Kyrgyz authorities to drop all charges against activist Aftandil Jorobekov and release him after he was arrested for openly protesting changes to Kyrgyzstan’s national flag and charged with calls for mass disorder and civil disobedience.
HRW said the charges brought against Jorobekov “violate his freedom of expression and right to peaceful assembly.”
“Jorobekov should not be facing criminal prosecution for opposing a government initiative or calling for peaceful protests, all protected forms of expression,” HRW’s Central Asia researcher, Syinat Sultanalieva, said. “Kyrgyz authorities should drop the charges and release Jorobekov immediately.”
The 39-year-old activist was detained on December 7, one day after he voiced his disapproval of the bill and announced his plan to hold a peaceful protest in Bishkek’s Gorky Park on December 9.
“Criticizing the government and calling for peaceful protest is not the equivalent of stoking mass unrest, and it is certainly not criminal,” Sultanalieva said. “Kyrgyz authorities should drop this absurd case against Jorobekov and uphold his right to free speech and peaceful assembly.”
Meanwhile, many politicians, activists, and public figures in Kyrgyzstan continue to question the idea to change the national flag, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.
Prominent Kyrgyz athlete and two-time world wrestling champion Jolaman Sharshenbekov wrote on Twitter on December 21 that he will continue raising the country’s old national flag at international tournaments and competitions.
The head of the country’s State Committee of National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, immediately commented on Sharshenbekov’s post, threatening with unspecified repercussions any athletes who “even try” to raise anything other than the amended national flag at sports events.
“The law is adopted, and we, the citizens, must obey,” Tashiev wrote.
