Kyrgyzstan’s Kylym Shamy (Torch of the Century) human rights center has urged law-enforcement authorities to pay attention to the recurring issue of attacks against lawyers in the country’s courtrooms. 

The Bishkek-based nongovernmental organization expressed its concerns in a statement issued on June 18, saying violent attacks against lawyers during trials have occurred many times in the past but the perpetrators are never held responsible.

The statement came the same day as reports that lawyer Kumushbek Ybykeev had been severely beaten by relatives and supporters of the victims of a deadly traffic accident during hearings into the case at the Osh Regional Court in the country’s south.

Ybykeev, who was representing a defendant in the case, was hospitalized.

According to Kyrgyz media reports, Ybykeev was threatened by several people who visited him later in the hospital.

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyz-rights-center-concerned-over-attacks-against-lawyers/25426795.html