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Brother Of Former Kyrgyz President Moved Out Of Prison


Akhmat Bakiev at a military court in Bishkek on January 12
Akhmat Bakiev at a military court in Bishkek on January 12
BISHKEK -- The jailed brother of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has been transferred from prison to a halfway house as part of a plan to allow Akhmat Bakiev to serve out his seven-year sentence at home, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Kyrgyz State Service for Sentences Implementation spokesman Joldoshbek Buzurmankulov told RFE/RL on January 10 that Bakiev had been transferred to correctional institution No. 35 in Bishkek on January 4.

Buzurmankulov said Bakiev will stay in the halfway house until January 14 and then move home while maintaining registration with the halfway house.

"Once a week, he will have to report to a parole officer," Buzurmankulov said.

Akhmat Bakiev was jailed for seven years in August for crimes committed following his brother's ouster as president in 2010.

He was found guilty of organizing mass unrest and violent attacks on security officials, extortion, illegal use of private land, illegal procurement and possession of weapons, and creating and participating in an illegal armed group during ethnic clashes in May-June 2010.

Akhmat Bakiev was arrested in the southern city of Jalal-Abad on June 23, 2010, just weeks after clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz left more than 400 people dead.

Then-President Kurmanbek Bakiev fled Kyrgyzstan in the wake of antigovernment protests in April 2010. He is currently living in Belarus.

The ousted head of state and another of his brothers, Janysh, along with more than 20 other aides and associates of the former president, are being tried in absentia in connection with the deaths of nearly 100 people when security forces fired on protesters during the April demonstrations.

The former president is also wanted by Kyrgyz officials on suspicion of embezzlement and abuse of power.

Read more in Kyrgyz here

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