Man jailed in bride kidnap murder case

BISHKEK: A man in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday for kidnapping and murdering a woman he planned to marry, in a case that sparked public fury. The murder of 20-year-old Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy inside a provincial police station in May caused uproar in Kyrgyzstan, sparking street demonstrations and the dismissals of several police officers. Turdaaly Kyzy’s kidnapper Mars Bodoshev was given a 20-year sentence on charges of murder and kidnap for marriage, a spokesman for the Sverdlovskiy district court in the capital Bishkek said.

Kyrgyzstan is known internationally for its custom of bride kidnapping, which sees thousands of girls abducted for forced marriage every year. An accomplice who helped in the kidnapping was handed a seven-year sentence, the court spokesman said. More than 20 police officers were removed from their positions over accusations of negligence after the murder. Turdaaly Kyzy was fatally stabbed by her kidnapper while waiting to file a complaint against him after he was apprehended by police. Bodoshev then turned the knife on himself, according to police, but recovered following a period in hospital. The UN says 13.8 percent of women in the ex-Soviet republic younger than 24 are forced into marriage with their abductors.

Munara Beknazarova, a local activist against genderbased violence, welcomed the sentence and noted the “great resonance” of Turdaaly Kyzy’s case in Kyrgyz society. “We know that kidnapping is commonly practiced but few statements are made to police and even fewer cases go to court,” she said. “Hopefully after this case law enforcement and society as a whole will treat the crime more strictly,” Beknazarova said. Bride kidnapping has roots in the Kyrgyz people’s nomadic past. It persisted to some extent during Soviet times but boomed during the impoverished country’s chaotic independence from Moscow in 1991. — AFP