The Prosecutor General’s Office of Kyrgyzstan has charged former President Almazbek Atambayev with a series of particularly serious crimes. This was announced by the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Republic for the supervision of operational investigative activities and the investigation Zamir Beishekeev. According to him, we are talking about the murder of commandos, the organization of riots and hostage-taking.
“Atambaev was given notifications on a number of particularly serious crimes, such as organizing riots, murder, attempted murder, taking hostages and using violence against a government official,” Beishekeev said.
In turn, the head of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan (SCNS) Orozbek Opumbaev accused the ex-president of the country of planning to carry out a coup. According to him, during the operation to detain Atambayev, he intentionally used women and children as a defense, in order to then accuse the authorities of violence against civilians and use this as an excuse to overthrow the government.
“Atambaev needed blood, I openly declare it! He needed blood for a coup, ”RIA Novosti quoted Opumbaev as saying.
The head of the GKNB also said that the commandos who died during the assault on Atambayev’s residence were shot dead with weapons that were found in the former president’s house.
“The fighter was shot from a weapon that was in Atambayev’s house. In his house, a large number of various weapons were later discovered, including the SVD rifle. Atambayev admitted that during the arrest he shot at my guys six times, ”Opumbayev emphasized.
In addition, he said that security officials were ordered not to use firearms during the detention of Atambayev. The corresponding order was given by the President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
“I reported to Sooronbai Sharipovich as commander in chief that there are such moments, we must solve them in the legal field. He gave a tough concrete instruction - not to use firearms and that there should be no casualties among the civilian population, ”said Opumbaev.
We add that the former head of the State Committee for National Security, Abdil Segizbaev, who was being examined as a witness in the case of the events of August 7-8, said before interrogation in the investigative service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs that after the press conference he no longer trusts Opumbaev and considers “everything that he speaks about the situation, a lie. "
“This is a deliberate misrepresentation of the public. I hope that the investigation is conducted not by those like Opumbaev, but by professional investigators, ”said Segizbayev, expressing the hope that the investigation will be carried out properly.
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Storming the residence of Atambaev
Earlier, the Kyrgyz parliament accused the ex-president of involvement in corruption schemes. At the end of June 2019, deputies withdrew his ex-president status and immunity, which made it possible to institute criminal proceedings against Atambayev. Nevertheless, he went through these cases as a witness. The former head of state himself rejected all the charges and called absurd, ignoring the calls to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to testify. According to Atambayev, his persecution is political in nature.
On August 7, law enforcement agencies began an operation to detain the ex-president at his residence. However, Atambayev’s supporters resisted and the special forces had to storm the house. After several attempts, victims appeared, and some of the security forces were captured. One commando was wounded, who later died.
After that, Atambayev turned to the citizens and authorities of the country. He called on law enforcement officers not to shoot “at their people”, and he expressed his readiness to answer all the questions of the investigation.
“I am ready to answer any question, because there was no corruption on my part in the Batukaev case. Sooronbai Jeenbekov is well aware of this, I myself told him everything, and this cynicism is amazing, ”the ex-president said.
The siloviki were only able to enter the territory of the residence on August 8. After that, Atambayev surrendered to the authorities and was taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Supporters of the ex-president organized protests in the central square in Bishkek, but law enforcement agencies dispersed the demonstration. As a result of clashes between supporters of the ex-president and security forces, about 100 people were injured.
Arrest until August 26
During an extraordinary meeting of the Kyrgyz parliament on August 8, Jeenbekov said that the current situation does not concern the confrontation between the two politicians, but is a process of legal investigation, which Atambayev’s supporters resist.
“Unfortunately, in the history of our country there have been several cases when prominent and authoritative domestic politicians were arrested. All of them, obeying the laws, came to the investigation and court hearings. And Atambaev, worrying about his own well-being, refused to come to the investigator. For his sake, he did not fail to sacrifice the lives of people, ”the head of state said.
The court sent Atambayev under arrest until August 26. However, the ex-president’s lawyers intend to appeal to international instances, since, in particular, they do not consider the deprivation of Atambayev’s immunity to be lawful.
“How can it (the accusation. - RT ) be justified if my client was invited as a witness, but was not interrogated?” He was immediately given a notice of suspicion. This is the scenario that was originally planned. These actions are illegal because Almazbek Atambayev, as the ex-president, has immunity, ”Atambayev’s lawyer Sergei Slesarev quoted 24.kg as saying.