Sadyr Nurgojo uulu Japarov (born 6 December 1968) is a Kyrgyz politician, lobbyist, and legislator who has been serving as the sixth president of Kyrgyzstan since 28 January 2021. He previously served as the 22nd prime minister in the 2020 interim government, following the resignation of President Sooronbay Jeenbekov. Japarov also became acting president of Kyrgyzstan after Jeenbekov's resignation, but resigned on 14 November 2020 to run in the 2021 presidential election, in which he was elected to succeed the acting president, Talant Mamytov. Japarov began his political career as a deputy in 2005 after being elected to the Supreme Council and from 2007 served in the presidential administration under Kurmanbek Bakiyev before Bakiyev's overthrow in the 2010 Kyrgyz Revolution. Japarov then resumed office as a deputy and held popular rallies to overthrow the Kyrgyz government, supporting attempts to seize the Bishkek White House and allegedly to kidnap an akim, which made it necessary for him to flee Kyrgyzstan in 2013 to avoid prosecution. Japarov returned to Kyrgyzstan in 2017, where he was arrested and sentenced to an 11 year prison term due to his prior illegal political activities. His prison sentence was cut short when he was freed by his supporters during the 2020 Kyrgyz Revolution, leading for his rise to power in Kyrgyzstan. Japarov's presidency is viewed as authoritarian, as he consolidated power and stifled dissent. Before Japarov took charge, Kyrgyzstan was known for a political climate more open than those of other post-Soviet states of Central Asia. He reintroduced a presidential system via constitutional and government system referendums that increased his executive powers and reduced the parliament's influence, as well as creating the People's Kurultai which resulted in Kyrgyzstan facing democratic backsliding. Several opposition politicians and activists were detained, independent media outlets have been shut down and journalists arrested, and new laws aimed at suppressing independent media were introduced. Under his presidency, the Kyrgyz government has embarked on a program of vastly increased public spending, much of which is going to companies owned by Japarov through complex networks of proxies.
Early life and education Japarov was born in Keng-Suu, a village in the Tüp District in what was then the Kirghiz SSR within the Soviet Union, in the family of Nurgozho and Kadic Japarov. After finishing his middle school education in 1986, he joined the Kyrgyz National Academy of Physical Culture and Sport. In 1987, Japarov was drafted into the Soviet Army, where he served for two years in Novosibirsk as a commander in a telecommunications division. After returning in 1989 with the rank of Junior Sergeant, Japarov continued his education in the academy until 1991. In 2006, Japarov graduated from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University in Bishkek with a degree in law.
Early political career Japarov started his political career after the 2005 Tulip Revolution. In March 2005, he was elected as member of the Supreme Council from the Tüp electoral district where he headed the Kelechek parliamentary faction. He was a supporter of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. In 2006, Japarov was a member of the State Awards Commission. In 2007, he was Deputy Chairman of the Amnesty Commission. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, he participated in the lists of the pro-presidential party Ak Jol, which won the majority of seats in parliament but went on to work as an adviser to the president. From 2008 to 2010, Japarov worked as an authorized representative of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
Raider capture of Issyk-Kul Bank Japarov, during his tenure as a supreme commissioner in the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, was repeatedly accused of raiding the Issyk-Kul Bank in order to help the business empire of Maxim Bakiyev, the son of then-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Japarov's sister, Raikul Japarova, in alliance with Lithuanian businessman Mikhail Nadel, a friend of Maksim Bakiyev, forcibly seized the Issyk-Kul Bank. Later, Raikul Japarova, becoming the nominal chairman of the Issyk-Kul bank, carried out all the instructions of Nadel to carry out all the activities. NBKR documents stated that through this bank, Sadyr Japarov and his sister laundered $5 billion for Maxim Bakiyev. Among which, according to the statement of the previous head of the State Committee for National Security, Abdil Segizbayev, there was money from drug trafficking and arms trafficking stating, "He made a turnover of this money and pulled it out clean and took his interest.". In 2020, Erkinbek Asrandiev, ex-deputy prime minister and former auditor of the bank in 2013, also confirmed the raiding of the Issyk-Kul bank and its use for the purpose of laundering the funds of the ruling regime by Japarov and his sister Raikul. He stated it as a main reason for rejecting Japarov's offer to work in his cabinet of ministers in 2020. Another remark concerns the fact that, being the High Commissioner for Corruption, Japarov did not take any measures against the corruption schemes of the clan of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, his brother Janish Bakiyev and son Maxim Bakiyev, but rather maintained warm family relations with them.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
