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Kyrgyzstan Assassination Plot: Suspected Crime Boss Raimbek Matraimov Held in Pretrial Detention

The corrupt Kyrgyz oligarch Raimbek Matraimov will spend the next month in pretrial detention in Bishkek, after the former deputy head of Kyrgyzstan’s customs service was extradited from Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

Matraimov, once known as the country’s “kingmaker” for the influence his clan held over the Kyrgyz Government, was found to have profited from corrupt schemes he ran at the customs service, laundering at least $700 million for himself by allowing companies to evade import fees.

In October 2020, upon the formation of a new government led by President Sadyr Japarov, Matraimov was ordered to repay $22.3 million in damages and restitution back to the state.

However, rather than fall in line with Kyrgyzstan’s crackdown on organized crime, in recent years Raimbek Matraimov appears to have remained outside the law. The former official is now suspected of orchestrating a recent plot to assassinate members of Kyrgyzstan’s current leadership in retribution for the government’s fight against organized crime. It is the discovery of this plot that led Kyrgyz law enforcement to request Matraimov’s extradition this week from Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, along with his three brothers, Tilek, Islambek, and Ruslan.

Of the Matraimov brothers’ seizure in Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (CNSK) commented: “In this regard, on March 22, employees of the CNSK carried out operational and investigative measures, as a result of which all the above-mentioned persons were detained [in Baku]. Currently, investigative measures are being carried out to bring them to justice, according to the laws of Kyrgyzstan.”

On Wednesday, March 27, the Birinchi Mai district court in Bishkek ruled that Raimbek Matraimov must stay in pretrial detention at the CNSK’s detention center until at least April 26. Officially, he is suspected of “money laundering and the abduction and illegal incarceration of unnamed individuals”.

Matraimov had already been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list, and the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (the ‘Magnitsky Act’), for his previous crimes at the customs service.

@gov.kg

Kyrgyz Surgeons Performed Unique Heart Surgery in One Minute

The National Centre of Cardiology and Therapy in Bishkek has announced its implementation of an Emergency Cardiology program to provide emergency care to patients with acute myocardial infarction.

The authorities’ purchase of new heart surgery equipment including a machine to create ultra-precise 3D reconstructions of the heart on a monitor and the importation of U.S.-made Azurion-7 devices for diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases was made possible by the allocation of $1.5 million from the World Bank. In his address at the presentation ceremony, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Zhaparov welcomed the much needed acquisition of the state -of -the- art, high-tech equipment which will greatly reduce the number of patients dying from heart disease each year.

Today, the centre reported that with the aid of new high-tech X-ray surgical equipment and Chinese colleagues’ specialised knowledge of its intricacies, doctors performed a successful heart operation in a record time of just one minute and eight seconds.

According to Kyrgyz doctors, the patient had been admitted ‘with an open oval window’; a particularly dangerous symptom of cardiovascular disease because the presence of holes between the valves of the heart can cause air to eventually enter the brain and lead to a stroke. “We are monitoring the patient’s condition and she is doing very well. She was only given a local anaesthetic and in 12 hours, can go home and slowly return to her everyday life,” stated Chinese professor Shang Xiaaoqe after the operation.

Almost half the patients attending the National Centre of Cardiology for strokes suffer from this type of disease but thanks to the new equipment and adoption of methods used by Chinese medics, its treatment will no longer pose a problem for Kyrgyz doctors.

In addition to advice from their Chinese counterparts, Kyrgyz medics have arranged visits from Russian and Kazakh doctors to share their experience and best practices.

@prokuratura.uz

Uzbek Cultural Agency Seeks to Prevent Damage to Archaeological Relics

Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor’s Office in collaboration with the Cultural Heritage Agency, is currently implementing regulations aimed at protecting and preserving the country’s vast wealth of historical monuments.

During a recent investigation related to the new regulations, the Prosecutor’s office discovered the destruction of the Kattatepa monument in the Denov district of Surkhondarya by locals wishing to build a barn. The monument, constructed between the 5th-7th centuries, was of significant historical importance and the cost of damage to the archaeological zone has been estimated at 23.3 billion (~$1.85 million).

Sadly, this is not an isolated case. Three Uzbeks were previously found guilty of causing damage worth 2.6 billion ($ 206,289) to the Oktepa-1 monument in the Navoi region by arbitrarily excavating 193 cubic meters of soil. The conversion of 164 cubic meters of the archaeological site of Badakhshontepa to arable land, is estimated to have resulted in damage valued at 2.3 billion sum ($182,486), and damage sustained by unlawful excavation of 12 cubic meters at site of the Yamonkiyottepa monument, estimated at 163 million ($12,933). Reports of an Uzbek citizen’s commandeer of 0.48 hectares of land around the medieval Tolmozortepa archaeological monument in the Namangan region, resulted in damages of 871 million ($69,107).

Damage to the nation’s archaeological relics is considered a serious crime and under Uzbek law, carries punishment of up to 7 years imprisonment.

@kmg.kz

Kazakh-Italian Project to Install New Hybrid Power Plant in Zhanaozen

On March 26 the chairman of Kazakhstan’s state oil & gas company JSC KazMunayGas (KMG) Magzum Mirzaliyev met with Luca Vignati, a senior executive at the Italian oil & gas company Eni, to discuss the construction of a hybrid power plant in Zhanaozen.

The parties discussed the current status of construction of a hybrid power plant in Zhanaozen, where wind (77 MW), solar energy (50 MW) and gas (120 MW) are planned to all be used in the energy mix. “We express our gratitude to Eni for fruitful cooperation and exchange of experience in the framework of this strategic energy project. We hope for further development of our cooperation in this area,” said Mirzaliyev in a press release.

On January 18 the parties signed an agreement in Rome for the construction of a hybrid power plant in the city of Zhanaozen, in Mangistau region. Additionally, the heads of KMG and Eni discussed drilling the first exploration well at the Abay site in the Caspian Sea — as well as developing further stages of production at the Kashagan and Karachaganak fields, taking into account the priority to increase the production of marketable gas.

@OrbisKazakhstan

Kazakhstan to Start Producing Cars for Chinese Brand KAIYI

The Kazakh automotive company Orbis Manufacturing plans to build a full-cycle plant in Almaty’s industrial zone to manufacture cars under the Chinese brand KAIYI. According to Orbis’s press service, a subsidiary of Orbis Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of cooperation with China’s Yibin Kaiyi Automobile Co. at the second Forum of Kazakh Exporters in Astana.

“We plan to invest about 72 billion tenge (~$160 million) in organizing the production of high-tech cars of leading Chinese brands,” commented the president of Orbis Kazakhstan, Sukhrab Mahmudov.

Orbis Kazakhstan emphasized that design and estimate documentation (DED) for the production line is currently being finalized. The plant’s production capacity is planned at 80,00 vehicles per year. It will initially create 1,500 jobs.

In May 2023 Orbis Kazakhstan signed an agreement with EXEED International, a premium brand of the Chinese automaker Chery, on the production of cars under the EXEED brand in Kazakhstan.

@gov.kg

Kyrgyzstan to Switch to 12-Year School System

From the next academic year pupils in Kyrgyzstan are to stay at school for an extra year, a move that authorities believe will improve the quality of education, and make it easier for students to enter foreign universities.

The Kyrgyz Ministry of Education and Science said the 12-year system will be introduced in schools in stages from September. By common consensus, Kyrgyzstan’s school system has long been in need of modernization, as many approaches to education have not changed in decades.

“We will gradually introduce this system so that children will not be overloaded. We have been working on this for more than a year. The transformation of the education system is aimed at updating the content of school education, improving its structure, aimed at preparing competitive youth, and integrating [them] into the global educational space,” said education minister Dogdurkul Kendirbayeva at a press conference in Bishkek.

Ms Kendirbayeva also explained how the transition to a 12-year system would take place. All of the country’s first grade students will be tested in September this year; those children who are already comfortable with the second-grade curriculum will move to the second grade in January 2025.

To improve the quality of teaching at Kyrgyz schools, the Asian Development Bank has provided a $20 million grant, as well as a loan for the same amount for 24 years. This money will pay for teachers to go on courses in science, technology, engineering and math.

A new education system is also needed because currently only 30% of preschool-aged children in Kyrgyzstan are in preschools. This is partly because many parents use their young children as additional labor in the household, or use them as nannies for their younger siblings, and are in no hurry to send their children to school. Many families also don’t have the money to send their children to preschool classes. But from the fall the preschool education program will become compulsory for all as part of the first year of education.

Critics of the new system argue that it will hamper the most able young children, because they will now have to wait for their peers.