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Three people suspected of organizing state coup in Kyrgyzstan detained — official

The official added that those who ‘incited’ the candidates to engage in destructive activities "must be brought to justice"

BISHKEK, November 28. /TASS/. Three parliamentary election candidates, suspected of plotting a violent state coup in Kyrgyzstan, have been detained, Kyrgyzstan’s Security Council Secretary Marat Imankulov said.

"Reports of their detention are true, an investigation into the matter is under way," he said.

The official added that those who ‘incited’ the candidates to engage in destructive activities "must be brought to justice."

"I don’t think that those young people came across the idea all by themselves. Apparently, there is an organizer behind them, someone who indoctrinated them ideologically. Our task now is to expose those people," Imankulov said.

Damir Suvanaliev, chief investigator of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) of Kyrgyzstan, said at the meeting of the Central Election Commission on Friday that three candidates of the Green Party for the upcoming parliamentary election were suspected of plotting to take power by force. Suvanaliev said that the candidates have not been detained so far and asked the CEC to allow them to be brought to legal accountability.

Earlier on Friday, the Kyrgyz State National Security Committee reported that the agency and the Interior Ministry had exposed a criminal group plotting to violently seize power in the country. According to the committee, solid evidence has been received proving the criminal activities of a group of people "plotting the destabilization of the socio-political situation in the country after the elections and the takeover of power." According to investigators, the group included parliament members and former high-ranking officials.

Polling stations opened in Kyrgyzstan at 5:00 Moscow time on Sunday to elect members of the national parliament, Jogorku Kenesh. Almost 2,500 polling stations will open in the country and abroad, including 21 in Russia. The country has about 3.7 million registered voters.

Kyrgyzstan has a mixed electoral system: 54 lawmakers will be elected through party lists and 36 - in single-seat constituencies. A total of 21 political parties and almost 300 candidates from single-seat constituencies are taking part. Overall, about 1,300 people have been registered as candidates.

The previous parliamentary elections, held in the fall of 2020, were deemed invalid by the Central Election Commission due to numerous violations of the electoral law. The vote count ended in mass demonstrations and the resignation of the president and the government.