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Kyrgyz officer dies after security forces storm ex-president’s home
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Aug 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Kyrgyz officer was killed
Wednesday when special forces stormed the compound of former president
Almazbek Atambayev, as mounting tensions with his successor Sooronbai
Jeenbekov threaten to spark a political crisis in the fragile Central Asian
state.
The officer died from a gunshot wound after Atambayev’s supporters tried to
prevent him being detained, the Kyrgyz health ministry said.
“A special forces officer was delivered (to hospital) in an extremely
serious condition with a gunshot wound. Despite resuscitation attempts, he
died,” it said in a statement. Atambayev, who ruled Kyrgyzstan from 2011 to
2017 before handing over to Jeenbekov, has increased security at his estate
of Koi-Tash outside Bishkek in recent weeks, as tensions between him and
Jeenbekov rise.
Clashes broke out there in the evening after Kyrgyzstan’s national security
committee (GKNB) said its special forces were undertaking a “special
operation to detain former president Almazbek Atambayev.”
The GKNB claimed that special forces were armed “only with rubber bullets”
while Atambayev’s supporters had shot back with firearms.
The health ministry said that 36 people, including 15 members of the
security services, had been admitted to hospital with injuries.
Atambayev saw his immunity lifted in June as the authorities seek to
prosecute him on corruption charges.
He has ignored three police summons for questioning in a case connected to
the surprise release from jail of a well-known underworld boss during his
presidency. Atambayev has still not been detained, several key aides have
confirmed.
Mirbek Aitikeyev, an eyewitness at Koi-Tash who broadcast footage from the
compound live on Facebook, told AFP that some of the former president’s
loyalists had seized weapons from special forces.
“His supporters stole weapons from the special forces, who retreated under
the onslaught of the crowd. Atambayev is still at his home… there are
rumours that additional forces will be sent. The people here are making
preparations,” Aitikeyev said.
– Blackout –
Local and foreign media struggled to reach staff working at Koi-Tash as
authorities appeared to block internet and mobile connections in the village
located a short drive from capital Bishkek.
Dmitriy Lozhnikov, a member of the political council in Atambayev’s Social
Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, also told Russia’s state-owned news channel,
Russia-24, that electricity to the village had been cut.
Following the lifting of his immunity by parliament, which Atambayev says
was unconstitutional, the former president vowed to “stand to the end”
against the charges, calling Jeenbekov’s administration a “mafia clan.”
The two men were once friends and Atambayev backed Jeenbekov’s candidacy in
the 2017 vote. But they fell out just months after Jeenbekov’s inauguration
as Atambayev publicly criticised his successor.
Jeenbekov’s office announced that the president had cut short his holiday
at a popular lakeside resort in the mountainous country and would convene a
meeting of the security council Thursday.
In the footage shot inside the compound by Aitikeyev, Atambayev could be
seen meeting his supporters, when people suddenly started screaming and
running for cover as gunshots ring out.
– ‘Don’t shoot’ –
Several people could be seen injured and bleeding as armed masked people in
military fatigues and helmets run through the gates.
“Don’t shoot at people!” somebody screamed.
Kyrgyz media said the road leading to the Koi-Tash residence has been
blocked and an angry crowd has formed next to the police cars.
Atambayev became Kyrgyzstan’s first elected president to hand over power
peacefully in 2017, following revolutions in 2005 and 2010.
Jeenbekov has accused Atambayev of seeking to control politics from the
comfort of retirement.
The conflict between the two men, both of whom have been accused of using
law enforcement agencies to get rid of political opponents, could turn into a
full-blown political crisis.
Last month, Atambayev travelled to Russia and met with Vladimir Putin, who
pledged his support to Kyrgyzstan but advised “everyone to unite around the
current president and help him develop the country.”
The conflict in Kyrgyzstan is likely to be watched with apprehension both
in Russia and China, whose political and economic interests in the country
deepened during Atambayev’s rule.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1025 hrs