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Former Kyrgyz official produces Belarusian passport during arrest in Kazakhstan

A member of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's inner circle produced a Belarusian passport when he was arrested in Kazakhstan in June 2012, said the news website 24.kg.

Paiyzullabek Rakhmanov, who held a key government post during Mr. Bakiyev's time in power and fled Kyrgyzstan when the president was overthrown by a popular uprising in 2010, is wanted by the Central Asian country on charges of exceeding authority and forgery.

Issued by the Pershamayski district police department in Minsk in 2011, Mr. Rakhmanov's Belarusian passport cites Pazyl Tashbayev as his name and surname.

Mr. Rakhmanov is currently held in a detention center in the Kazakh city of Taraz as the Kazakh authorities are deciding on his extradition to Kyrgyzstan.

The arrest of Mr. Rakhmanov, as well as the recent sighting in Minsk of three more Kyrgyz officials linked to Mr. Bakiyev and wanted by Bishkek appear to confirm speculation that many members of the former Kyrgyz president's entourage have been granted refuge by Belarus following the 2010 uprising. //BelaPAN