Cablegate: Head of Secretariat Asserts Sadyrkulov Death An

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id: 247865
date: 2/9/2010 6:11
refid: 10BISHKEK98
origin: Embassy Bishkek
classification: SECRET
destination: 10BISHKEK119|10BISHKEK71|10BISHKEK96
header:
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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 000098

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (GORKOWSKI)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS PHUM KG
SUBJECT: HEAD OF SECRETARIAT ASSERTS SADYRKULOV DEATH AN
ACCIDENT

REF: A. BISHKEK 96
B. BISHKEK 71
C 09 BISHKEK 119

BISHKEK 00000098 001.2 OF 002

Classified By: Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

1. (S) Summary: During a friendly lunch at the
Ambassador's residence, Oksana Malevanaya, the Head of the
Presidential Secretariat, broached the topic of Medet
Sadyrkulov's death. She said that he was her husband, soul
mate and the father of her youngest child, and that she could
not have continued working for the Kyrgyz government had she
believed it had killed him. With apparently deep emotion,
she described the reasoning that led her to believe
Sadyrkulov's death was indeed an accident. She observed that
the Kyrgyz Security Services are simply "too stupid" to have
been capable of assassinating him. She also claimed that
leading up to and following his resignation, Sadyrkulov had
been talking with the opposition through Valentin Bogatyrov
and Sergei Slepchenko, but that he had never wavered in his
loyalty to President Bakiyev. End Summary.

2. (C) The Ambassador hosted Oksana Malevanaya, the Head of
the Presidential Secretariat, for a lunch at her residence on
February 3. The discussion was friendly, and covered several
topics, including pressing for a visit by Secretary Clinton,
the future of the Drug Control Agency, and the abolishment of
the Ministry of Defense. The tenor of the discussion
changed, however, when Malevanaya introduced the topic of
Medet Sadyrkulov, and described her perspective on his
political activities and the nature of his death. This is
the second part of a two-part cable (ref A).

A Tragic Accident?
------------------

3. (S) After about an hour of discussion, the tenor of the
meeting changed dramatically when Malevanaya introduced the
subject of the death of Medet Sadyrkulov. Visibly trembling,
and with her eyes filling with tears, she said that
Sadyrkulov had been her husband, her "soul mate," and the
father of her youngest child. She said that she is tormented
by people who ask how she can continue to work for the
government that killed him. The answer to that, she said
passionately, was that the Bakiyev Government did not kill
him. She said that she is very familiar with the
capabilities of the Kyrgyz Security Service (SNB), and they
are simply "too stupid" to be able to carry out a complex
assassination. Also, she said, on the day Sadyrkulov died,
he had telephoned her and told her that he himself was
uncertain about when he would be traveling back from Almaty.
Therefore, she reasoned, it would have been impossible to
ambush him.

4. (S) Continuing, she said that she has seen "18 different
autopsy reports," none of which indicate that the people in
the car were shot before they died. Sadyrkulov's body was
almost completely incinerated, but it was clear from reports
that Sergei Slepchenko had been alive when he burned. She
also said that the location of the car was not as suspicious
as it seemed: Twelve Chimneys Gorge was one of Sadyrkulov's
favorite spots, and he often went there to walk around. In
short, Malevanaya believed the official story that their
deaths were an accident was true: The car was hit from
behind, and a fire quickly ignited the interior upholstery.
Fumes from the upholstery incapacitated the men, and they
subsequently asphyxiated or burned to death.

5. (S) Malevanaya also said that, contrary to many accounts
(ref B), there was never any violent break between herself
and Sadyrkulov, although they had disagreed sharply about his
decision to leave the government. She said that while she
was pregnant with his child (her second), she stepped back
from politics. During that time, while she was not paying

BISHKEK 00000098 002.6 OF 002

attention, Sadyrkulov fell under the influence of Valentin
Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, who, to advance their own agendas,
pulled Sadyrkulov into contacts with the political
opposition. Malevanaya said that although Sadyrkulov was
speaking to the opposition, he was still fundamentally loyal
to President Bakiyev. After Malevanaya had her son, she
reentered political life, and began trying to peel Sadyrkulov
away from Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, but she was unsuccessful.

6. (S) Malevanaya expressed a great deal of venom towards
Bogatyrov and Slepchenko, but in spite of repeated questions
by the Ambassador, the reason for the hostility remained
unclear. Malevanaya said, without explaining the source of
her knowledge, that Bogatyrov and Slepchenko had engineered
Janysh Bakiyev's appointment as the head of the Presidential
Security Service as a stratagem to make Sadyrkulov feel more
vulnerable, and therefore more amenable to covert talks with
the opposition.

7. (S) When the Ambassador asked whose interests these
conspiracies would advance, Malevanaya gave two, apparently
conflicting, answers. First, she said Bogatyrov is an agent
of the Russian FSB, implying that weakening Sadyrkulov had
been in the interest of the Russian Government. Second, she
implied that Bogatyrov, Slepchenko, or both, had ties to a
very wealthy Kazakh businessman, whom she did not name.
Sadyrkulov, she claimed, was the only man in the Kyrgyz
government &smart enough8 to figure out this man,s
intentions. Despite appeals from the Kazakh to ethnic
solidarity (Sadyrkulov was an ethnic Kazakh), Sadyrkulov had
earlier clashed with this businessman, and prevented him from
"taking over the Kyrgyz economy." So, Malevanaya reasoned
that this businessman would have had an interest in removing
Sadyrkulov from power, or at least &distracting him with
Janysh8 while he tried again to take over the Kyrgyz
economy..

Comment
-------

8. (S) Malevanaya is evidently still very distraught at the
death of Sadyrkulov, and extremely angry at Bogatyrov and
Slepchenko for their "involvement" with Sadyrkulov. Despite
Malevanaya's comments, Sadyrkulov may have been deeply
involved in plotting Bakiyev's overthrow. In February 2009,
shortly before his death, Sadyrkulov met with the Ambassador
(ref C) and described his plans to organize opposition to
Bakiyev and install former Vice Prime Minister Elmira
Ibraimova as Bakiyev's successor. It is unclear whether
Malevanaya was unaware of this activity or was being less
than candid. However, Malevanaya's account of Sadyrkulov's
relationship with Slepchenko and Bogatyrov is roughly
consistent with an open letter recently published by Syrgak
Abdyldayev, a journalist who was brutally assaulted in March
2009. Abdyldayev claimed that he was working with
Slepchenko, and through him, Sadyrkulov, in developing a new
opposition website.
GFOELLER

=======================CABLE ENDS============================

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