Caravanserai

Fatal bride kidnapping prompts outrage in Kyrgyzstan

AFP

BISHKEK -- More than a thousand people including schoolchildren protested against bride kidnapping in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday (June 6) after a 20-year-old woman was murdered in a police station by her abductor.

Medical student Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy, 20, was stabbed to death in the north of the Central Asian country as she prepared to give evidence against her kidnapper.

The 30-year-old killer then turned the knife on himself and ended up in hospital.

The murder in May drew condemnation from the United Nations, rights groups and Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

The UN says 13.8 percent of women in the ex-Soviet republic younger than 24 are forced into marriage with their abductors.

Demonstrators in the capital Bishkek's main square held white balloons and posters bearing slogans such as, "We are against bride-stealing" and "Allow girls a chance to be happy".

The authorities, who organised the event, put the turnout at 1,000-1,500 people.

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