{"id":2097,"date":"2020-12-13T02:48:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=138743"},"modified":"2020-12-13T02:48:14","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T02:48:14","slug":"kyrgyz-protest-violence-against-women-after-acquittals-in-rape-of-schoolgirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/13\/kyrgyz-protest-violence-against-women-after-acquittals-in-rape-of-schoolgirl\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyrgyz Protest Violence Against Women After Acquittals In Rape Of Schoolgirl"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kyrgyz are aghast at rampant gender-based violence and impunity in the courts, illustrated by the recent acquittal of men accused in the repeated rape of a 13-year-old schoolgirl.<\/p>\n
On December 12, a march was held in Kyrgyzstan\u2019s capital, Bishkek, as part of an annual 16-day UN campaign against gender-based violence around the world.<\/p>\n
The march, held in subfreezing temperatures, came a day after a court acquitted two of three suspects<\/a><\/strong> in the rape of a 13-year-old schoolgirl in the Issyk-Kul region.<\/p>\n One of the suspects received a light sentence of 7 1\/2 years from the judge, who fell asleep several times during the trial.<\/p>\n The girl, who had to have an abortion after becoming pregnant from one of the rapists, remains in a psychological trauma center.<\/p>\n According to her family, the three men raped her for six months, filmed her, and threatened that they would show the videos to her classmates.<\/p>\n \u201cI never even thought that my daughter\u2019s life would turn out so that her future would simply be trampled upon,\u201d the girl\u2019s father told Current Time<\/a><\/strong>, the Russian-language network led by RFE\/RL in cooperation with VOA. \u201cIt turns out that there is no justice. My daughter says she wants to die.\u201d<\/p>\n Violence against women is rampant in Kyrgyzstan. Kloop, an independent Kyrgyz news site, cited a study<\/a><\/strong> showing a quarter of women suffer from domestic violence. An astonishing 83 percent of women have experienced psychological, physical, or sexual violence in the family at least once, according to one study.<\/p>\n One survey showed that one in three women in Kyrgyzstan believes that there are justified reasons for a husband to beat his wife, such as for leaving the house without his permission, burning food, refusing sexual acts, or not doing household chores.<\/p>\n In recent years, Kyrgyzstan has taken steps on paper to deter domestic violence, including adopting a stronger domestic violence law. However, domestic violence is a misdemeanor rather than a criminal offense, and often goes lightly or completely unpunished, according to Human Rights Watch.<\/a><\/p>\n