In the evening on Sunday, December 2, slain journalist Alisher Saipov’s three brothers were attacked by a group of men in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan.

Shohruh Saipov, journalist and one of the beaten brothers, told about it to “Jarayon”.

According to him, on Sunday at 9:30 pm, Ozodbek, his younger brother, and his friend went to the store.

On the way to the store, when they started talking on their mobile phones in Uzbek language, they were approached by two young men of Kyrgyz ethnicity, who tried to start a fight saying asking them: “Where were you in June 2010?” Ozodbek and his friend, not wanting to communicate with these young men, went on their way. But the young people continued to pursue them to the apartment that the Saipov brothers rent in Bishkek.

“I was sleeping in the apartment. When someone knocked on the window, my brothers and I went outside. We tried to sort it out in a peaceful way. However, four guys, who came to us with metal sticks, began to beat us,” said Shohruh Saipov to “Jarayon”.

Saipov brothers called police after the incident. The policemen found a mobile phone in a scene of fight. They found it belonged to one of the four guys, who instigated the fight.

After a while someone called the found mobile phone, who said he had lost it. Policemen asked him to go to the mall “Vefa”, so that he could pick up his cell phone. Policemen arrested the owner of the phone, when he came to pick it up in a short while.

“Later it was found that this guy was a son of Asylbek Tekebayev, younger brother of the parliament deputy Omurbek Tekebayev,” says Shohruh Saipov.

Azamat, the guy arrested by police, said he did not know the guys who beat Saipov brothers. Azamat Tekebayev and Saipov brothers stayed in Bishkek city’s October district police department from 11 pm on Sunday till Monday morning. After several people, who came to police department, tried to hush up the case, Shohruh sent SMS messages to all human rights defenders and journalists, and reported about the incident.

Anatoly Duhovnyh, attorney of Azamat Tekebayev, told local media that the incident was not one-sided, as Saipov brothers say. Also, according to the lawyer, this case is not an inter-ethnic conflict.

However, Aziza Abdirasulova, well-known Kyrgyz human rights defender, who arrived in the October district police department, said that this case was not an everyday fight. According to human rights activist, police officers did not register the incident in their book for eight hours, until Monday morning. But when the incident started attracting rights defenders, police opened a criminal case under article 234 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.

On Monday, when they were released from police department at 10 am, Saipov brothers went to forensic examination. After that, they went to see the doctor for medical aid. According to recent reports, Yusufbek, one of beaten Saipov brothers, was hospitalized on the recommendation of doctor. Other brothers were advised to get a home treatment.

“Our only demand is to punish culprits, those guys who beat us, under the laws of Kyrgyzstan,” says Shohruh Saipov, adding that criminals, no matter who they are, should be punished.

This is not the first attack on brothers of the slain journalist Alisher Saipov, who lived and worked in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan. On August 10 2011, Shohruh Saipov, editor of newspaper “Digest”, was violently attacked by unknown people in Osh airport upon his arrival from Bishkek.

Alisher Saipov, the eldest son in the family, was a famous journalist from the south of Kyrgyzstan. He published Uzbek-language newspaper “Siyosat” (“Policy”). In November 2007, Alisher Saipov was shot three times from point-blank range near his office in Osh.

Many observers believe that Saipov, who was an outspoken critic of Islam Karimov and his regime in Uzbekistan, was killed by order of the Uzbek authorities. Neither the killer, nor the ones who ordered were found.