Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) (AFP)

Kyrgyzstan's former president Almazbek Atambayev, arrested last week following a special forces operation marked by violence, was accused Tuesday of preparing a coup in the Central Asian country already shaken by two revolutions in 2005 and 2010.

After months of an increasingly open conflict with his successor, who was from 2011 to 2017 at the head of this former Soviet republic and who was hitherto prosecuted for corruption, was arrested on August 8th. after two assaults on his home near the capital Bishkek.

His arrest, which mobilized nearly 2,000 police officers and the Minister of the Interior in person, led to the death of a member of the special forces and left a hundred wounded.

"His intention was (to) make a coup, I say officially," said Orozbek Opubayev, head of the Kyrgyzstan National Security Service (GKNB), at a press conference in Bishkek on Tuesday.

He accused Mr. Atambayev, who had ignored three summonses to interrogations before his arrest, to have "deliberately provoked" the police. "Atambayev needed a bloodshed to perpetrate a coup," said Opubayev.

The Prosecutor General's Office announced that Mr Atambayev was suspected of "violence against authorities, organizing mass disorder and attempted murder" and "trafficking in arms and ammunition".

These charges are punishable by up to life imprisonment.

These investigations were opened by the court against Almazbek Atambayev after the disturbances that accompanied his arrest.

Remanded in custody until 26 August, Atambayev was initially blamed for the "illegal acquisition of land" and the release, under his presidency in 2013, of mafia leader of Chechen origin Aziz Batukayev.

For his part, Atambayev described the accusations as "absurd" and considered to be a victim of personal conflict with his successor and rival, current President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

- Personal conflict -

At the end of his term, Almazbek Atambayev had won political prizes for the candidacy of Sooronbai Jeenbekov, who was then his colt, but the relations had quickly deteriorated between the two men.

Their personal conflict now raises fears of serious unrest in this country, which is plagued by frequent ethnic tensions.

Almazbek Atambayev visited the security forces on 8 August, who had been besieging his residence in the village of Koï-Tach near Bishkek for two days, where up to a thousand of his supporters had gathered.

A first special forces raid had turned into a pitched battle and left one dead and dozens wounded. Several members of the security forces were also taken hostage by Atambayev's supporters, before being released.

After the announcement of his arrest, hundreds of protesters protesting against this measure met near the presidential palace, theater of revolutions of 2005 and 2010, before being dispersed by the police.

Almazbek Atambayev, 62, was charged in late June with corruption by the judiciary and his immunity as a former head of state was lifted by the deputies.

The crisis is also closely monitored by Russia, an allied country in Kyrgyzstan where hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz live and work and have a military base there.

In July Atambayev went to Russia to be received by Vladimir Putin. The Russian president was worried about possible unrest, advocating "political stability" in a country with recurrent crises.

© 2019 AFP