Kyrgyz lawmakers must have behaved quite severely before they had to give up their seats.
Janybek Abirov, 34, made it to the bar earlier this month by sparking a bloody altercation in a restaurant that left a security guard concussion and broken his nose.
He might as well get away with it – Kyrgyz MPs are no strangers to getting punched – except the incident was caught on camera.
Abirov submitted his resignation on March 27, two weeks after the war.
According to a police account, Abirov was part of eight men who attacked two security guards.
The victims of the attack did not file a complaint with the police, but the scandal escalated when President Sadyr Japarov stepped in by ordering the Interior Ministry to investigate the incident.
“This behaviour does not meet the ethical standards of a public servant of his rank,” a spokesman for Japarov said.
Abirov ostensibly enjoys immunity from prosecution as a congressman.
The Attorney General’s Office has filed a petition in Parliament asking for this to be lifted so that he is held accountable for his “thugs”.
Jogorku Kenesh, as the Kyrgyz parliament is called, has set up a committee to look into the matter, but they are in no hurry to throw their colleagues to the wolves.
One member of the committee, Zhusuppek Korgonbai uulu, told reporters that he personally saw nothing wrong with the war.
“Abirov is not just a guy, an outcast. He is a Kyrgyz patriot. He’s a good guy. What happened could have happened to anyone.
Just try to drink two liters of vodka, and we’ll see what state you’re in,” Korgonbai uulu said.
It is unclear exactly what Korgonbai uulu’s comments mean, although they do seem to suggest that he felt Abirov was heavily intoxicated at the time of the battle and therefore could not be held responsible for his actions. his motion.
Kyrgyz law does not provide for immunity from prosecution for assault on the basis of intoxication.
With increasing pressure, Abirov decided not to delay the inevitable and would leave parliament at his will.
“Unfortunately, after what happened, I don’t think I have the moral right to serve as deputy at Jogorku Kenesh,” he wrote on Facebook.
For now, it’s the sad end of a promising political career.
Abirov:
Abirov has a more notable record than many other legislators.
He became a member of the Bishkek city council in 2016 at the age of 28 and later became the council’s chairman.
Her father, Bolotbek Abirov, was a successful businessman with several businesses bearing his name.
One of these companies, Rassvet, had a contract to supply coal to a thermal power plant in Bishkek in 2018.
Young Abirov, then an MP, denied the claims at the time. that this creates a conflict of interest.