W4R 2023: Kyrgyzstan - Rita Karasartova

Rita Karasartova loves yoga, travelling and sewing traditional Kyrgyzstani jackets with her daughter. Now she is under house arrest, having spent months detained in a cramped cell unable to see or speak to her family. Worried about her people’s access to water, Rita peacefully opposed a border agreement giving control of a fresh-water reservoir to Uzbekistan. She has been charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government” and faces 15 years’ imprisonment.