A BRITON WORKING at a foreign-owned gold mine in Kyrgyzstan has been detained and faces up to five years in jail for comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis.
An interior ministry spokesman told AFP that Michael Mcfeat, an employee of Toronto-based Centerra Gold, was detained by police after posting the comment on Facebook, which caused a temporary strike at the mine.
Mcfeat wrote that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queueing for their “special delicacy, the horse’s penis” during holiday celebrations, referring to a traditional horse sausage known as “chuchuk” or Sujuk.
Racial hatred charges
Mcfeat now faces racial hatred charges, which can entail between three to five years in prison under Kyrgyz law.
A local trade union leader confirmed that work at the mine, which accounts for up to 10% of ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan’s economic output, resumed on Sunday after a short strike.
Mcfeat later deleted the post and issued an apology on his Facebook page, saying he had not meant to offend anyone.
Horse meat including offal is a popular delicacy in both Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Kazakhstan where nomadic traditions have been revived since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The Kyrgyz government is currently in an ownership stand-off with Centerra, which wholly owns the Kumtor Gold mine and operates it through a subsidiary.
Kyrgyzstan holds a 32.7% stake in Centerra, and until last month had been trying to swap that for a 50% stake in the Kumtor mine.
The government walked out of negotiations on December 22, promising to present a new proposal for restructuring the mine’s ownership.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say