Bishkek police spokesman Olzhobai Kazabayev did not specify how the public should identify the prostitutes. Prostitution is not technically a criminal offense in Kyrgyzstan, but sex workers are nonetheless habitually targeted for harassment by police and self-appointed moral guardians. Kurmankulov said there was still grounds for pursuing prostitutes through the law, however.
We have had some results in this. In December , a group of traditional felt hat-wearing men with the nationalist-patriotic Kyrk Choro movement raided a karaoke club and made women working there file out, accusing them of prostitution. Filming them on camera, they also grabbed few Chinese men in the establishment and accused them of corrupting the morals of young Kyrgyz women.
The latter admitted they signed a memorandum with the group on combating corruption in , but insisted the document did not give Kyrk Choro the authority to inspect or raid clubs. The Interior Ministry denied supporting the group and later opened a criminal investigation into the raid, which the police said was conducted illegally. We have our own [forces]. Kochorbaev was later released on bail.
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