Mayor of Balykchy (Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan) is determined to erect a monument to Rysbek Akmatbayev. Leader of the so called Issyk-Kul gang regarded by the republican Interior Ministry as a criminal chieftain, Akmatbayev ran for the national parliament. He was murdered in May, 2006. The monument to him is to appear in the center of Balykchy where a monument to Vladimir Lenin once stood.

The mayor's idea caused a major public outcry in Kyrgyzstan. "It poses a threat to public security," said Tolekan Ismailova of the Human Rights Center Citizens Against Corruption. "The mayor is carrying out the orders given by corrupt state officials..."

"What is happening in Kyrgyzstan nowadays is a result of the March 2005 coup. Responsibility for it rests with the new regime," Ismailova said. "That is why we have "pocket" courts, inactive Interior Ministry and National Security Service, and the Prosecutor General's Office that does not supervise anything at all. Where the monument idea is concerned, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev himself should be brought to answer for the actions of his subordinates."

Mayor of Balykchy Talant Bekjanov in his turn maintains that the idea to erect a monument to Akmatbayev belongs to city dwellers who want to show their respect "for the innocently murdered." Bekjanov himself intends to organize a sports school named after the late chieftain.

Enraged Kyrgyz public leaders are determined to demand Bekjanov's resignation.