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Kyrgyzstan recalls its ambassador

Kyrgyzstan has recalled its ambassador to Belarus, Erik Asanaliev, “for consultations” over Minsk’s refusal to extradite Zhanybek (Zhanysh) Bakiyev, a brother of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, BelaPAN said.

“This step was taken in connection with the absence of a response from Belarus’ appropriate agencies to a verbal note issued on August 21 and an August 22 statement by the foreign ministry of the Kyrgyz Republic with regard to the stay of Kyrgyz citizen Zhanybek Bakiyev in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, who is wanted by the law-enforcement agencies of Kyrgyzstan and Interpol for grave criminal offenses,” the Kyrgyz foreign ministry says in a statement issued on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Kyrgyz embassy in Minsk told BelaPAN that the ambassador was currently away in Kyrgyzstan on an official trip.

The verbal note was issued to Viktar Dzenisenka, the Belarusian ambassador in Bishkek, after Zhanybek Bakiyev was spotted and photographed on a downtown street in Minsk on August 17 by Belarusian opposition activist Mikhail Pashkevich.

Mr. Bakiyev, who was the head of Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s presidential guard service, was photographed along with Tahir Rysaliev, 55, the former deputy head of the service who was a fellow university student of Zhanybek Bakiyev; and Rustam Sayduev, 36, a friend of Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s son Maksim.

All the three are the prime suspects in the murder in March 2009 of Medet Sadyrkulov, a former head of the Presidential Administration; Sergei Slepchenko, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and Kubat Sulaymanov, the driver of the car they were in.

Zhanybek Bakiyev is believed to have given the order to shoot at a crowd of protesters in Bishkek in April 2010, which left more than 80 people dead.

When reached by Interfax-Zapad on Monday, a spokesperson for the Belarusian interior ministry said that the ministry would not comment on reports of Zhanybek Bakiyev’s stay in Belarus.