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Kyrgyz parliament ready to provide assistance to make Belarus extradite Bakiyev, speaker says

 

The parliament of Kyrgyzstan is ready to provide assistance to the country’s law enforcement agencies to ensure the extradition of Kurmanbek Bakiyev from Belarus, Asylbek Jeenbekov, the parliament's speaker, told reporters on Friday.

Mr. Jeenbekov said that he had personally handed the leadership of National Assembly of Belarus an appeal demanding the extradition of Mr. Bakiyev. "The heads of [Kyrgyzstan's] law enforcement agencies have on many occasions made the same request, but Minsk has rejected them on the excuse that Bakiyev is now a citizen of Belarus," he said, according to Kyrgyzstan's news agency www.24.kg. "But this is not an excuse. Bakiyev committed a crime when he was a citizen of Kyrgyzstan and he is accountable to our law."

Belarus and Kyrgyzstan are locked in a bitter diplomatic row over the Belarusian government’s refusal to arrest and extradite former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his brother Zhanybek Bakiyev, who headed the presidential guard service.

The Bakiyev brothers and their associates were given shelter by Alyaksandr Lukashenka after a popular uprising in Kyrgyzstan in 2010. The new Kyrgyz government has repeatedly demanded their extradition, accusing the Bakiyevs of sanctioning gunfire on a crowd of protesters that left more than 80 people dead. In February 2013, a 24-year prison sentence was imposed on Kurmanbek Bakiyev in absentia on charges of abuse of power. Zhanybek Bakiyev was found guilty of multiple murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Belarus has described their prosecution as politically motivated and rejected all extradition requests.

In August 2012, Kyrgyzstan recalled its ambassador from Belarus, while the area around the Belarusian embassy in Bishkek became a scene of angry protests. //BelaPAN