Zhibek Begalieva is a correspondent for Current Time Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
A traditional Kyrgyz poet and folk musician has found a new way of reaching audiences by turning journalistic investigations about corruption into songs he performs on videos. Bolot Nazarov works in close collaboration with one of the country's top investigative teams.
When Kyrgyz citizen Beknazar Ibraimov won a U.S. Green Card this year, he sold his family's apartment and started making plans. But the White House's January 31 decision to ban Kyrgyz citizens from entering the U.S. caught him and hundreds of other Kyrgyz Green Card winners up short. Bishkek has pledged to meet U.S. demands for a biometric passport, but, as yet, little suggests that Ibraimov and his compatriots will see their Green Card dreams come true this year.
It started with an invitation to a birthday party. And reportedly ended with repeated rape and beatings in a Bishkek brothel. This 16-year-old Kyrgyz girl’s story as a sex-trafficking victim is tragically familiar in Central Asia, though investigations do not always occur rapidly. After Current Time’s January 22, 2020 report about her story, however, Kyrgyz police detained three suspects in the case. Her identity has been concealed.
