Ousted Kyrgyz leader on the move again after resignation - Summary

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan/Moscow - Ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has left Kazakhstan, days after he fled there from his own country, media reports said Saturday.

Bakiyev was pushed from power by bloody protests last week that killed at least 84 people.

There were conflicting reports about his whereabouts Saturday.

The Kyrgyz news agency Akipress reported that he was in Moscow, but there was not official confirmation. The Interfax news agency earlier reported, citing people close to the 60-year-old politician, that he had traveled to Belarus from Kazakhstan.

A presidential spokesman in the capital Minsk said however, he had no knowledge of Bakiyev's reported arrival. Belarus' authoritarian president, Aleksander Lukashenko, had offered Bakiyev exile.

Bakiyev flew Thursday to neighboring Kazakhstan, where he resigned as president in an internationally-brokered deal aimed at restoring calm in his home country.

Since then, the situation has stabilized in the Central Asian republic, where an interim government, led by pro-Western former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, has taken over.

It has issued arrest warrants for relatives of Bakiyev on charges that include murder. Among those charged is his brother Shanysh, who is accused of ordering sharpshooters to pick off demonstrators.

The former president's family is on the run. Bakiyev - who took office in 2005 - has immunity from prosecution.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319205,ousted-kyrgyz-leader-on-the-move-again-after-resignation--summary.html.