Kyrgyzstan: TUC protests about suspension of union leader

Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev
President of the Kyrgyz Republic
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan

Dear President Bakyev

Violation of trade union rights in Kyrgyzstan

On behalf of the Trades Union Congress which is the national representative of working people in Great Britain, including the 6.5 million members of our 58 affiliated trade unions, I urge you to desist from harassing the trade union movement in Kyrgyzstan and in particularly Sagyn Bozgunbaev, the President of FPKg, our sister organisation in Kyrgyzstan, who was suspended from office by the Pervomaiskiy District Court on 1 February 2008.

Mr Bozgunbaev was elected by the Congress of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan in September 2005 and I understand that his suspension is based on an old criminal case which had been closed by the Office of the Prosecutor General in 2006 and which was re-opened by the Prosecutor General on 31 January. The very next day, the court suspended Mr Bozgunbaev from his office.

According to our sources this move was initiated by officials in your administration who want to appoint their protégé, Mr M. Beibosunov, as First Vice-President of the FPKg despite his candidacy having been rejected twice by the statutory bodies of the FPKg. Moreover, presidents of FPKg unions have been pressured by government bodies, including ministries, regional governors and the Prosecutor's Office to support Mr Beibosunov.

The TUC is deeply concerned by this attack on the rights of trade unions in your country. Interference by state authorities in the internal affairs of trade unions contradicts the principle of Freedom of Association, embodied by ILO Convention 87, ratified by Kyrgyzstan, as well as the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic.

I urge you to ensure that the procedures against Mr Bozgunbaev and his colleagues in the FPKg are ended and that you distance yourself from attempts by people linked to your administration to seize control over the FPKg.

I am copying this letter to the UK Foreign Secretary and the Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan.

Yours sincerely

BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary