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Political asylum in Belarus offered to ousted Kyrgyz president

Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Thursday that Alyaksandr Lukashenka had offered him political asylum, according to a Reuters report, as quoted by BelaPAN.

“I’ve just talked with Alyaksandr Ryhoravich [Lukashenka] and he spoke about this,” the deposed president of Kyrgyzstan reportedly said.

According to him, he turned down the offer, saying that there was no need for that.

Mr. Bakiyev told reporters in his native village of Teyyit that negotiations with the interim authorities were underway, and that Roza Otunbayeva, head of the interim government, had signed an order guaranteeing his safety.

However, Ms. Otunbayeva said on Wednesday that Mr. Bakiyev should stand trial for "spilling blood."

"Bakiyev has exceeded the limits of his immunity by spilling blood and now he must be brought to trial and answer before the law," Ms. Otunbayeva said after talks with visiting US envoy Robert Blake.

Mr. Bakiyev fled to southern Kyrgyzstan after last week's protests erupted into violence, killing 84 people.

On Tuesday, the ousted president offered to resign on the condition that the safety of himself and his family was guaranteed.

Ms. Otunbayeva rejected that condition, saying that Mr. Bakiyev's relatives and close allies had to stand trial as well.

"As for his relatives and the former defense minister, these are people who shot citizens, and there can be no discussion of assurances of their safety, except for their legal defense in court," she said.

Ms. Otunbayeva said that the ousted president was being protected by about 500 armed supporters, including relatives and locals in the southern Jalalabad region.

Mr. Bakiyev would not be allowed to leave the country as he was insisting on taking a dozen relatives and allies with him, she added.

However, the government's interim security chief Keneshbek Dushebayev said that there would be no special operation against Mr. Bakiyev. "We want to solve this problem peacefully,” he said. “A special operation could cause needless bloodshed.”

What has happened in Kyrgyzstan is an anti-constitutional coup, Mr. Lukashenka told reporters on Wednesday. He described the ousted Kyrgyz president as a good person and noted that it was right of him to defend his power against rioters. “Is it admissible for a man, a civilian, to take an assault rifle and shoot at the government?” he said. “If this happened in my country and someone dared to lead people to storm something under fire, the response would not seem to be weak.”

“If a government cannot defend itself, it’s worthless,” the Belarusian leader concluded.