BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz investigators have dropped a corruption allegation from a list of charges against the country's health minister, Alymkadyr Beishenaliev, in a high-profile case alleging skimming and other wrongdoing related to vaccines and purported remedies for COVID-19.
Beishenaliev was detained in early June along with two subordinates on charges of corruption, extortion, and abuse of office as part of a series of corruption cases at the ministry.
Beishenaliev's lawyer, Kaisyn Abakirov, told RFE/RL on August 16 that the Interior Ministry dropped the charge of corruption linked to allegedly misusing state funds when buying vaccines against COVID-19 in 2021.
Investigations into other charges continue.
Beishenaliev was named health minister after a new government was established following mass anti-government protests in October 2020 sparked by parliamentary elections that many in the Central Asian nation said were rigged.
He was at the center of a scandal last year after he promoted a toxic substance -- a solution with extracts of aconite root -- as a treatment for COVID-19. Several persons were hospitalized after using the solution.
Aconite roots contain aconitine, a cardiotoxin and neurotoxin. Consuming aconite root can lead to sickness or even death.