Sources Say Kyrgyz Police Nab Suspect In Deputy's Slaying

Sanjarbek Kadyraliev

BISHKEK -- Police in Kyrgyzstan have apprehended a suspect in the murder of a parliamentarian who was gunned down a week ago, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported, quoting Interior Ministry sources.

The sources said the 32-year male is a long-time acquaintance of Sanjarbek Kadyraliev, and is thought to have pulled the trigger in the case.

There was no official confirmation of the report.

Kadyraliev, who was serving his second term in the national legislature, was shot to death near his Bishkek home on April 14.

A former deputy interior minister suggested that Kadyraliev had ties to organized crime before his election to parliament.

Kadyraliev was the fourth lawmaker to have been slain since the so-called Tulip Revolution of 2005.