Swiss diplomat to head OSCE police advisors in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, 13 August 2010 - Markus Mueller, a Swiss diplomat, has been appointed Head of the OSCE Police Advisory Group to be sent to Kyrgyzstan, the OSCE Centre in Bishkek announced today.

Mueller, who served as Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek from 2003 to 2008, speaks Russian, English and French in addition to his native German.

The 52-member Police Advisory Group will, after a preparatory phase in Bishkek, be initially deployed for an operational period of four months in the South of Kyrgyzstan. The group will comprise unarmed international police officers and local community mediators who will monitor and advise the police of Kyrgyzstan in six police stations in the Osh and Jalal-Abad provinces. The Police Advisory Group will have no executive police or other law enforcement powers.

All 56 OSCE participating States were invited to nominate candidates. Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, the United States and Ukraine have already put forth candidates to be part of the group.

The OSCE Permanent Council on 22 July agreed to deploy the group.