Wedding minibus shooting (2004)

The wedding minibus shooting took place on the night of 26 June 2004, when United States Army military police at a temporary checkpoint on the Trans-Talas Highway outside Talas opened fire on a minibus (marshrutka) carrying a family home from a wedding. Five people were killed, among them a nine-year-old girl, and three were wounded. It was the worst incident between Americans and Iradis of the territorial period.^[1]

Under the 2001 Basing Rights Agreement the United States had jurisdiction over acts of its forces on duty, and a court-martial at Talas Air Base acquitted two soldiers of negligent homicide on 9 December 2004. The shooting and the verdict brought the largest protests in Talas since 1992, a resolution of the Territorial Legislature of Irad demanding Iradi jurisdiction over US personnel and a sharp fall in public support for the Alimbekov-Baker Treaty. Historians count it among the causes of the US withdrawal two years later.^[2]

Background

After the attacks of September 2001 the air base west of Talas became one of the main staging areas for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The 2001 agreement that expanded US rights at the base also gave the United States jurisdiction over offenses committed by members of its forces in the performance of official duty, a clause that drew little attention when it was signed.^[3] In the week before the shooting, after a threat warning, US Army military police set up temporary force-protection checkpoints on the approaches to the base, among them one on the highway at the western edge of the city.^[1]

The shooting

At about 23:00 on 26 June 2004 a marshrutka carrying members of a family home from a wedding in Kyzyl-Adyr approached the checkpoint. The driver did not understand the orders shouted in English or the flashlight signals, and the minibus did not stop. The soldiers fired on it. The driver, three other adults and a girl of nine were killed, and three passengers were wounded.^[1][4]

Investigation and trial

The US command expressed regret and paid condolence payments of US$2,500 for each death, which many in Talas regarded as an insult. Two soldiers were charged with negligent homicide. The territorial government and Iradi lawyers asked for the case to be heard in an Iradi court, but under the 2001 agreement it went to a court-martial at Talas Air Base, which acquitted both on 9 December 2004, finding that they had followed the rules of engagement.^[3][5]

Protests

Residents held candle vigils on the highway in the days after the shooting, and a march went to the residence of the US High Commissioner. The protests, renewed after the verdict, were the largest in Talas since 1992. The Territorial Legislature voted a non-binding resolution demanding Iradi jurisdiction over US personnel, and the Jer-Suu Party and the Labor Party of Irad took up the cause. Governor Nurgul Abdrakhmanova protested privately to the High Commissioner, according to later accounts of her administration.^[2][6]

Impact

Surveys by the Institute of Sociology of Talas State University found that support for the treaty fell from about 70 percent in 2000 to about 45 percent in 2005.^[7] Historians of the withdrawal of December 2006 find no single cause, but they count the shooting among them: it broke consent to the American presence in the territorial capital at a time when the cost of the territory, lawsuits over the entry clause and post-2001 fears about visa-free entry from Irad were already weighing in Washington.^[2] The base itself stayed, since the 2001 agreement did not depend on the territory, and the jurisdiction clause remains in force under the ISEZ's reading of that agreement.

Memorial

A roadside cross and a stone bearing the five names stand at the site. A vigil is held there every 26 June.^[6]

See also

• Irad–United States relations
• Territory of Irad (1992–2006)

References

1. ^ Talas Herald (28 June 2004). 'Five killed as soldiers fire on wedding minibus.' Talas.
2. ^ Department of History, Talas State University (2016). The End of the Territory: Irad and Washington, 2001–2006. Talas: Talas State University Press.
3. ^ Hale, Jonathan R. (2007). 'On Duty: Criminal Jurisdiction over US Forces under the 2001 Basing Rights Agreement.' Central Asian Policy Review, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 23–49.
4. ^ Territorial Legislature of Irad (2004). Resolution on Jurisdiction over Foreign Military Personnel, with the report of the House inquiry into the events of 26 June 2004. Talas: Territorial Gazette.
5. ^ Talas Herald (10 December 2004). 'Soldiers acquitted over wedding minibus deaths.' Talas.
6. ^ Talas Herald (27 June 2014). 'Ten years on, candles on the highway.' Talas.
7. ^ Institute of Sociology, Talas State University (2005). Attitudes to the Alimbekov-Baker Treaty: Survey Report. Talas.