Law enforcement sources have said Dzhumagulov might have been plotting to wrest power from gangland leader Kamchybek Kolbayev.
A notorious crime boss in Kyrgyzstan has been stabbed to death in jail only weeks after his arrest.
Already whispers are spreading about whether Chyngyz Dzhumagulov was murdered to prevent him from attempting a power grab in the Kyrgyz criminal underworld. And some are wondering whether officials might somehow have been complicit in the killing.
According to the prison service’s press office, Dzhumagulov, 40, better known as Doo Chyngyz (Doo means giant in Kyrgyz), was stabbed 18 times on July 30 by a cellmate at the SIZO-1 detention facility in Bishkek. The suspected killer immediately confessed, stating that he had acted during a quarrel sparked by “personal hostility” toward Dzhumagulov.
Dzhumagulov was a well-known figure in gangster circles and has served two previous prison sentences on charges of complicity in murder and involvement in other violent and threatening acts.
He was delayed most recently on July 15 by the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, which had been seeking the gangster on racketeering charges.
How he was caught, though, is one of the many unexplained aspects of the Dzhumagulov saga. The GKNB told the public that it captured him as a result of a search operation. This story was later undermined when footage surfaced online showing Dzhumagulov voluntarily handing himself over to the authorities.
On July 17, Pervomaisky court in Bishkek ordered that Dzhumagulov be held in custody at SIZO-1 for two months pending investigations.
Pre-arranged arrests have become routine in Kyrgyzstan.
One of the most notorious apparent instances of this occurred in October 2020, when the GKNB released video footage showing what they claimed was a dramatic raid to capture the country’s most infamous underworld boss, Kamchybek Kolbayev, 47. It was widely suspected at the time that the entire scene had been choreographed for the cameras – a version of events attested to by Kolbayev’s unruffled demeanor. The GKNB said at the time that Kolbayev was being taken into custody to “obtain information on [his] criminal activities … and that of associated people in criminal circles.”
It is probable the authorities acted then to poster the likes of the U.S. Treasury Department, which sanctioned Kolbayev in 2012 over his suspected prominence in a sprawling network of Eurasian criminal groups.
In the end, Kolbayev barely spent any time behind bars. Immediately after his arrest, he was transferred to a prison hospital, supposedly because of his ill-health. He remained there pending an investigation into the alleged money-laundering of more than 250 million som (around $3 million at the current rate). His relatives paid the government around 50 million som towards covering that amount, and so in March 2021, Kolbayev was released on bail.
Kolbayev is supposedly confined by a court order to the Issyk-Kul region town of Cholpon-Ata, but his whereabouts are shrouded in mystery, as is the fate of the money-laundering investigation.
Dzhumagulov may have presumed he was due for similar treatment. But media sources are suggesting he might have been undone by his ambition.
On July 30, news website Kaktus cited sources in law enforcement as saying that Dzhumagulov had been killed by another gangland figure named only as Dooron, who the sources noted is close to Kolbayev. Dzhumagulov had been plotting to displace Kolbayev as the country’s top underworld leader, the sources said.
Dastan Bekeshev, one of only a few remaining outspoken members of parliament, demanded a thorough investigation into the killing.
“How was a weapon brought into the cell? Was the killer a cellmate of the victim? There are many questions. Logic dictates that such a killing would not be possible without the involvement of officials,” he wrote on his Facebook account.
There is yet another tantalizing detail about the events that led to Dzhumagulov’s death. On July 8, multiple local news outlets reported on an attempt by GKNB special forces to capture him in an ambush on the outskirts of Bishkek. Footage subsequently surfaced showing armed special forces troops charging at the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen in which Dzhumagulov was presumed to be sitting. Before the men could detain him, however, Dzhumagulov managed to get away. He then reportedly holed up in his home village of Ichke-Suu, around a 40-minute drive from Bishkek, before agreeing to hand himself in.
A wanted notice reportedly issued for Dzhumagulov identified him as an associate of Kolbayev. But the police later denied issuing a wanted notice, while the GKNB even refuted suggestions that the ambush captured on camera had taken place.
Dzhumagulov had two prior convictions. He got a seven-year prison sentence in 2016 for his complicity in a murder, using force against a public official and involvement in an organized criminal group. He was released on parole in 2018.
In 2019, he and some associates were delayed on suspicion of beating up two people who subsequently died from their injuries. A year later, Dzhumagulov was sentenced to five years in prison on hooliganism charges, only to be released again in 2021.
Ayzirek Imanaliyeva,
Eurasianet.org,
01 August, 2022