Constitutional Court of Kirghizia to Consider the Legality of Kirghiz-Chinese Accords

The Constitutional Court of Kirghizia will continue to examine on Monday the statement by the deputies of the lower house of the Kirghiz parliament about the unlawfulness of the Kirghiz-Chinese border accords. Deputies of the legislative assembly of the Kirghiz parliament Ismail Isakov, Ishenbai Kadyrbekov and Azimbek Beknazarov are acting as plaintiffs in the judicial process.

Speaker of the legislative assembly Abdygany Erkebayev, justice minister Kurmanbek Osmonov and foreign minister Askar Aitmatov will defend the position of official Bishkek.

The Constitutional Court began to examine the case on February 20. Due to the fact that prior to that unknown persons wrote insulting slogans addressed to head of the movement "For resignation of Akayev and reforms for people" Ismail Isakov on the walls of his house, it was decided to postpone the hearing until Monday, February 24.

Earlier, the consideration of the case was postponed many times due to the illness of plaintiffs or due to their absence.

The treaty deals with the division of the disputable border territory of over 270,000 hectares on the Uzengi-Kuush section in mountainous areas in the south of Kirghizia. According to the ratified document, Kirghizia has received 70 per cent of the lands whereas in the previous version the Chinese side insisted on the 50/50 division.

In May last year 11 deputies of the legislative assembly filed a suit to the Constitutional Court claiming that these accords had been ratified in violation of several articles of the country's Constitution.