The government-sponsored document was approved by both houses of parliament on June 28 and July 3, respectively. However, representatives of the radical wing of the opposition persisted that the Kyrgyz people would not be happy about such solution of this issue because the pardon for all participants would cover those who had opened fire on unarmed civilians, and officials who had not stirred a finger to prevent the bloodshed.
On the other hand, people who live in the areas from which convicted policemen do come threatened to stage protest actions should these policemen be not amnestied. They argued that these policemen had been fulfilling orders of their superiors. In June, law enforcement officers from Jalal-Abad region held a strike to demand an amnesty for their colleagues and better pay for the police that, they said, had to work under emergency conditions in recent months.
At his meeting with the press in June, Kyrgyz prime minister Nikolai Tanaev said that opponents of the amnesty stand up actually for a civil war because they do cause a clash between the opposite views in the Kyrgyz society. He held that the amnesty bill is to calm the public. However, most recent developments in the country proved him wrong: the proposed amnesty not only failed to stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan but gave reasons for considering more rallies and marches later in the year to demand the president’s resignation and the change of the form of political government in the country. President Askar Akayev has been accused of usurpation of power and gross mistakes in manpower policy.