(Bishkek) – The trial of a Kyrgyz human rights defender who published a letter from a political activist on her Facebook page is scheduled to start on August 15, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. Rita Karasartova is charged with organizing mass riots under article 278 of the criminal code and publicly calling for the violent seizure of power under article 327, facing a potential total of 10 years in prison.
The authorities have classified the case, meaning that the defense is barred from obtaining its own copy of the evidence file and that the trial is likely to be held behind closed doors. Both measures violate Karasartova’s fair trial rights under international law. The court had already postponed the trial twice. Karasartova, 55, has been in custody since her arrest on April 14, 2025, when law enforcement officers raided her home in Bishkek. She was only formally charged on July 8.
“Classifying Karasartova’s case combined with repeatedly postponing her trial at the behest of the prosecution help shield the proceedings from public scrutiny and point to a politically motivated prosecution,” said Syinat Sultanalieva, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should halt this abusive trial, drop the charges, and release Karasartova.”
Karasartova is a human rights defender who provided pro bono legal support to ordinary citizens of Kyrgyzstan seeking to address injustices within law enforcement and the judiciary systems in the country.
The charges against Karasartova were triggered by her publication of a letter from an opposition activist, Tilekmat Kurenov, on Facebook. In her post, dated April 14, 2025, Karasartova said that Kurenov, who at the time was in the UAE, had given her the letter for his relatives, asking her to publish it if something happened to him. She said she published it because Kurenov stopped responding to communications in early April, prompting fears that Kyrgyz authorities might have forcibly disappeared him.
On April 19, Kyrgyz authorities confirmed that Kurenov was in their custody, having been forcibly returned from the UAE and was being charged with calling for and preparing mass riots and attempts to seize power.
In an April 9 statement, the Kyrgyz State Committee on National Security alleged they had uncovered a plot to seize power, and that one of the alleged leaders was in the UAE. The committee said that the plotters intended to incite mass unrest on “ethno-nationalist grounds” to discredit the authorities.
In the days before Karasartova’s detention, Chuy district police also detained two other Kyrgyz citizens whom they identified as “supporters of Kurenov” on suspicion of involvement in the alleged plot. When Karasartova was detained, a media report said the police claimed Karasartova had “close ties” with the main suspects in this case. Karasartova has said the prosecution claims she conspired with Kurenov and his accomplices, and that publishing his letter was a signal to start coordinated actions to seize power.
However, in a letter from detention dated July 16, Karasartova said that after she read the indictment, she realized her case was not substantively related to Kurenov’s, and that the only connection was the publication of his letter. “‘What am I sitting in pre-trial detention for then?’ you might ask. For the fact that with my opposition views, I am doing everything so that power in Kyrgyzstan would gradually come to change. The very notion that power should change terrifies those who are in power.”
This is not the first time Karasartova has faced prosecution in a classified case. She was previously a defendant in the Kempir-Abad case, brought against activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and politicians who opposed the transfer of the Kempir-Abad reservoir to Uzbekistan. A Bishkek district court acquitted all Kempir-Abad detainees in June 2024, but the prosecution has appealed and the case is ongoing.
The Kyrgyz authorities should immediately declassify Karasartova’s case, and if they persist with the prosecution, guarantee her fair trial rights in full, Human Rights Watch said. The authorities should provide Karasartova and her legal team with complete copies of all case materials to enable adequate preparation of her defense, and all court hearings should be conducted in public with full access for journalists and civil society observers.
Kyrgyzstan’s international partners, including the European Union, United States, and United Nations, should publicly call for Karasartova’s immediate release and the declassification of her case. They should make clear that continued restrictions on civil society and the judiciary will have consequences for bilateral relations and international cooperation.
“Rita Karasartova’s prosecution will send a chilling message to other human rights defenders and civil society activists in Kyrgyzstan,” Sultanalieva said. “Kyrgyz authorities should uphold their international human rights obligations and release Karasartova immediately, drop all charges against her, and cease their campaign of harassment against human rights defenders and civil society activists.”