by FRANCO GALDINI
Torture, prison breaks, and executions — manipulating the terrorist threat in Kyrgyzstan.
On October 11, 2015, a freezing winter night in Kyrgyzstan, nine detainees mounted a spectacular escape from SIZO 50, a maximum-security prison on the outskirts of Bishkek. After overpowering and killing three guards, they dashed through the prison courtyard under fire from a sentry on a watchtower, smashed their way into an office along the perimeter wall, and snuck out of the complex through a window.
Five of the escapees were almost immediately recaptured as they frantically tried to find a hideout in the city suburbs. Police special forces with sniffer dogs roamed the city in search of the remaining four. Their photos were printed in leaflets and posted on bus stalls and inside trolley buses, encouraging citizens to call the police with possible leads. The manhunt featured in everyday conversations and countless media stories that described the men—a motley crew of detainees, some sentenced and some awaiting trial—as “especially dangerous criminals.” For days, the city lived on edge.
By the tenth day, three of the nine escapees were back in prison, three had been killed in the recapture efforts, and three had died in custody, all allegedly suffering from “heart attacks.”
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