Kyrgyz Deputy Killed In Hostage Crisis
October 20, 2005
Bishkek, 20 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A Kyrgyz member of parliament was killed today in a hostage-taking crisis during a prison riot.
Sergei Sidorov, the head of the press service of the Kyrgyz Penal Department, says legislator Tynychbek Akmatbaev was killed at the Moldovanovka Prison near Bishkek.
The chief of the prison, Ikmatulla Polotov, was also taken hostage. Two of Akmatbaev's bodyguards were reported injured in the hostage taking, in which gunfire was heard.
Reports say at least three people have been killed in today's rioting.
RFE/RL's correspondent on the scene reports Prime Minister Feliks Kulov, Interior Minister Murat Sutalinov, and acting Prosecutor-General Kambaraly Kongantiyev are involved in negotiations with inmates at the prison.
The riot is one of a series of recent protests at Kyrgyz prison facilities since March's Tulip Revolution. Inmates are demanding better living conditions.
(RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, AkiPress, Interfax, ITAR-TASS, AFP, AP, Reuters)