Kyrgyz Officials Discuss Escape Of Ex-President's Brother

Akhmat Bakiev vanished from custody on March 3.

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov has met with officials of the State Penitentiary Service and the State Committee for National Security to discuss the escape from detention of the brother of exiled ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiev.

The meeting came as the Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General's Office confirmed that investigations have been launched into Akmat Bakiev's escape from prison custody.

At the gathering, Babanov has said the warden should be fired over the incident.

Akmat Bakiev disappeared on March 3 from a hospital where he was taken for treatment for pneumonia.

He had been jailed for 7 1/2 years in August following his conviction for organizing mass unrest and violent attacks on security officials in May and June of 2010, after his brother was ousted as president amid public unrest.

Akmat Bakiev was transferred from prison to a halfway house, or minimum-security residential facility, in January.