Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday requested the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to assist in the extradition of former Kyrgyz president’s brother wanted on murder charges.
Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly asked Belarus to honor its international legal commitments and extradite Zhanybek Bakiyev, a brother of the republic’s ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
The country’s foreign ministry said it requested the CIS executive committee “to consider the possibility of assisting in the fulfillment of obligations, which the Belarusian side undertook under the [CIS] Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters, signed on January 22, 1993, and under other international treaties.”
Bishkek summoned its ambassador from Minsk last Friday after images of the wanted former Kyrgyz president’s brother and his two assistants made near a restaurant in Minsk appeared on the internet.
Former Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and many of his relatives and supporters fled into exile after a mass uprising in April 2010 that ousted the president.
The ex-president and his brother Zhanybek, who then headed the National Guard Service, are accused of giving the order to open fire on crowds of protesters. About 90 people were killed and some 1,000 injured as a result. Zhanybek is also accused of triple murder of the former presidential administration chief Medet Sadyrkulov, chief of the International Institute of Strategic Studies Sergei Slepchenko, and driver Kubat Sulaimanov.
Opposition forces, brought to power by the revolt, put the two brothers on the international wanted list and the Interpol has issued a red notice for them.
