BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz citizen allegedly involved in deadly ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan last year has been detained in the Russian republic of Khakassia, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Abdraim Jumashaev, the deputy chairman of Kyrgyzstan's General Directorate for Criminal Investigations, told RFE/RL that Sukhbatillo Ishmatov is wanted by Kyrgyz officials for allegedly killing a pregnant woman during the clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz last year.
Jumashaev said Ishmatov, an ethnic Uzbek, came to the Khakassian capital of Abakan in November. He received Russian citizenship earlier this year.
According to the website of the Russian Migration Directorate in Khakassia, Ishmatov told Russian officials when applying for citizenship that there were no pending investigations against him in any other country.
Russian officials said because he was not truthful when he applied for citizenship, his status as a Russian citizen will be reconsidered in court and his possible extradition to Kyrgyzstan decided at that time.
Marat Oruzbaev, the deputy chairman of the Interior Affairs branch in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, told RFE/RL that nine Kyrgyz citizens wanted by Bishkek for their roles in the ethnic clashes in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions last year have been extradited from Russia to Kyrgyzstan.
He said the names of the extradited suspects cannot be revealed as the investigations into their cases are still under way.
Earlier this week, Prosecutor-General Aida Salyanova told RFE/RL that dozens of Kyrgyz citizens suspected in killings and beatings during the ethnic clashes are hiding in neighboring countries and Russia.
More than 400 people were killed and thousands injured and/or displaced during the clashes.
Read more in Kyrgyz here and here
Read more in Kyrgyz here and here