Former Kyrgyz President’s property was also confiscated; some of his ex-ministers and advisors also jailed in some cases
Bishkek
The Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek sentenced former President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev to a total of 30 years in prison in a strict regime colony with confiscation of property on the 2013 Kumtor case, the Bishkek District Court said in a press release.
A criminal case was initiated on the fact of the illegal signing of an agreement between Kumtor Gold Company, Centerra Gold and Kyrgyzaltyn OJSC back in 2013.
According to the release of the court, the president and other defendants in the criminal case were convicted under the article “Corruption” of the Criminal Code of Kyrgyzstan. Thus, the son of the former president, Maxim Bakiyev, was sentenced to life imprisonment to be served in a special regime colony with confiscation of property. Former deputy head of the Central Agency for Development, Investments and Innovations (TSARII) Aleksey Eliseev was sentenced by the court to 30 years in prison with a fine of 15,000 soms in state revenue and confiscation of property.
The ex-minister of natural resources, ex-adviser to the executive director of the World Bank, ex-first deputy minister of finance, ex-head of the legal department of the government apparatus were also sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
All defendants in this criminal case were sentenced in absentia, since they all left Kyrgyzstan a long time ago.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev is the main defendant in the case of the April 2010 events, when protesters who opposed his rule were shot. The Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan sentenced him in absentia to life imprisonment, which, due to his age (he was over 60 at the time of the crime), was replaced by 30 years in prison. Two relatives of Bakiyev were also convicted in the same case. His brother Zhanysh, who headed the State Security Service, received a life sentence in absentia. The eldest son of the fugitive president, Marat, once served as deputy chairman of the GSNB. He was sentenced in absentia to 27 years in prison, Sputnik reports.
Bakiyev led Kyrgyzstan as president from 2005 to 2010 until he was overthrown. During this time, he managed to hold two presidential elections and won them both times. However, in April 2010, popular unrest caused by the decision of the authorities on a number of social issues led to his expulsion from the residence. During the storming of the Presidential Administration in Bishkek, about 90 demonstrators were killed, more were injured, some of whom later also died.
According to eyewitnesses of those events, the demonstrators gathered near the building of the Presidential Administration and the most active began to break down the fences. After that, aimed fire was opened from the roof of the building. Among the dead that day were many people who accidentally found themselves in the thick of things and became victims of sniper shots.
Of the representatives of the authorities of that time, not a single one admitted that an order had been given to open fire from firearms on the demonstrators.
The previous president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akaev, was also removed from office as a result of popular unrest in 2005. However, he did not give the order to open fire on the people who attacked the Presidential Administration of Kyrgyzstan.
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Courtesy: Central Asian Light (Posted on June 12, 2023)
