Kyrgyz Official Suggests Opposition Leader Framed

Omurbek Tekebaev (file photo) (RFE/RL) BISHKEK, September 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The deputy director of Bishkek's Manas International Airport has suggested that the Kyrgyz president's brother may be involved in a plot to frame opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported.

In a written statement to President Kurmanbek Bakiev made public in parliament today, Nadyr Mamyrov said he had received instruction from Janysh Bakiev, a deputy chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service (SNB), that Tekebaev's luggage be put in a "closed room" before the former parliament speaker boarded a flight to Warsaw, via Istanbul.

Tekebaev was arrested last week in Poland after police found heroin in his luggage. A Polish court later on September 8 ordered his release, saying it had accepted Tekebaev's claims that he had been set up.

The court also said in a statement that Polish police had received a fax from Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, saying Tekebaev was carrying drugs in his luggage.

Opposition supporters in Bishkek say they suspect the SNB of framing Tekebaev.

Addressing an investigative commission in the Kyrgyz parliament today, SNB Chairman Busurmankul Tabaldiev denied any wrongdoing.

President Bakiev has blamed last week's incident on unidentified forces seeking to "destabilize" the country.

Tekebaev is expected back in Bishkek overnight.

(with material from AKIpress, Kabar, and 24.kg)