BISHKEK. Aug 4 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has signed a law toughening liability for crimes in the sphere of international terrorism and extremism, the presidential press service told Interfax on Thursday.
The law amends the republic's Administrative, Criminal and Penal Codes, and also the laws On Counterterrorism, On the Prevention of extremist Activities, on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic, and On State Pension Social Insurance.
"The amendments aim to toughen the punishment and living conditions in prisons, and envisages measures to strip persons convicted for terrorist and extremist activities of citizenship," he said.
In December 2015, Atambayev said that "citizens of Kyrgyzstan should be stripped of citizenship for fighting the territory of Syria on the terrorists' side."
According to the Kyrgyz State National Security Committee, over 600 citizens of the republic, who have joined international terrorist groups, have gone to combat zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Over seventy of them have been killed.
A source in the Kyrgyz defense and securities structures told Interfax that the number of the country's citizens participating in extremist groups may be higher, but not due to people from Kyrgyzstan, but due to people who have false Kyrgyz passports.