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Mere days after breaking apart an alleged assassination plot, Kyrgyz authorities lastly acquired their fingers on fugitive former deputy customs head Raimbek Matraimov, whom they’d implicated as behind the plot.
On March 23, as Central Asia was reeling from information of the Crocus Metropolis Corridor assault on the outskirts of Moscow, Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for Nationwide Safety (SCNS) reported that it had damaged up an alleged assassination plot focusing on unnamed members of the Kyrgyz management with the arrest of 5 Azerbaijani residents. Virtually instantly, the SCNS claimed that Matraimov was behind the plot and residing in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Matraimov – as soon as known as “Raim Millionaire” for his ostentatious wealth regardless of his public service job – was positioned on a needed checklist in January. It was the newest evolution of the Matraimov saga, which has oscillated wildly over the previous 5 years.
In 2019, when the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Challenge (OCCRP), RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, and Kloop launched a damning report implicating Matraimov in a large corruption scheme, Kyrgyz authorities sat in surprised silence as he filed lawsuits in opposition to the media retailers that had revealed or shared the reporting. The pendulum started to swing after the October 2020 revolution that catapulted Sadyr Japarov into the presidency, however though Matraimov was arrested and finally pled responsible, he was launched after paying a mere fraction of what he was alleged to have helped steal from the Kyrgyz state. Matraimov was designated for sanctions below the International Magnitsky Act by the U.S. in December 2020, a transfer that was learn partially as a rebuke of the brand new Kyrgyz management for letting him go so simply.
Matraimov was re-arrested on new expenses of cash laundering in early 2021 however launched and the fees dropped. In October 2023, the pendulum once more swung again at Matraimov when one other infamous, internationally needed, felony kingpin named Kamchybek Kolbaev was killed by state safety officers in a shootout in a Bishkek bar.
Within the wake of the Kolbaev killing, SCNS head Kamchybek Tashiev went on the war-path, railing in opposition to organized crime in Kyrgyzstan, proclaiming that “any more there shall be neither Kolbaev’s mafia, nor Matraimov’s mafia, nor different mafias in Kyrgyzstan.”
In January 2024, Kyrgyz media reported sources stating that the SCNS had positioned Matraimov on a needed checklist on suspicion of abducting and illegally incarcerating unnamed people. No additional particulars have been provided in regards to the expenses, and it was not clear on the time the place Matraimov was. In February, Iskender Matraimov – Raimbek’s brother – surrendered his parliamentary mandate, as did one other deputy with shut ties to the household.
That brings us to March and the fast churn of occasions this week. In keeping with Kyrgyz media, Raimbek, together with three of his brothers (Kloop reported them as Ruslan, Tilek, and Ismabek), have been detained on March 26 and swiftly extradited from Azerbaijan. Some stories included Iskender within the checklist, however his son posted on Fb that his father had not been arrested and was returning voluntarily to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai.
As I’ve famous previous articles for The Diplomat Journal, the Japarov-Tashiev tandem has repeatedly claimed to have forestalled varied plots, largely coups. It’s troublesome to verify or refute such claims, given a scarcity of proof offered publicly and the tendency of Bishkek to interpret all opposition as revolutionary in intent.
Relating to Matraimov, it’s attainable that Bishkek is each justified in arresting him but in addition performing with primarily populist intent. It’s not an anti-corruption/anti-crime marketing campaign with none corrupt criminals being arrested, in any case. However the repeatedly missed alternatives during the last 5 years to carry Matraimov to justice counsel that it’s not essentially the crime, however the timing that’s of essential significance.
Will Matraimov once more wriggle off the hook? Will there ever be penalties for the officers who repeatedly let him go?
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