Kyrgyzstan on Thursday announced an attempted “coup” and the arrest of members of the Central Asian country’s main opposition party, whose leader is already under investigation.
“Members of the Butun (United) Kyrgyzstan party were secretly preparing riots and large-scale unrest in the country to carry out a coup,” the GKNB security service said in a statement.
Raids were carried out at the homes of 10 party members and two of them had been detained, it said.
Butun has six deputies in parliament and is headed by nationalist leader Adakhan Madumarov, a former presidential candidate.
Madumarov is under investigation for charges of “riots” and “abuse of power”. He is one of the main critics of a border agreement with neighbouring Uzbekistan.
In October 2022, around 20 politicians and officials opposed to the agreement were arrested for a “coup attempt”.
In a separate case, the GKNB in June arrested around 30 people accused of “organising riots and a coup”.
Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic, is an ally of Russia that is also developing ever closer ties with China.
Since independence in 1991 the country has seen multiple political crises and three revolutions in 2005, 2010 and 2020.
