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Kyrgyzstan special forces seize ex-president in raid
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Aug 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Kyrgyzstan’s former president
was detained in a major security operation Thursday, police said, a day after
clashes between his supporters and law enforcement left one dead and dozens
injured.
The Central Asian state, which has seen two revolutions in less than two
decades, is on the brink of crisis amid a standoff between ex-leader Almazbek
Atambayev and his protege-turned-foe President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.
Atambayev was detained by security services at his residence in the village
of Koi-Tash near the capital Bishkek, after the second raid in two days on
the compound.
He is currently being held at the building of the State National Security
Service (GKNB) while hundreds of his supporters gathered in central Bishkek
and blocked a major thoroughfare.
An AFP correspondent at the square next to the country’s main house of
government saw some of the supporters throw stones at a police vehicle
driving through the area.
Police later broke up the crowd and brought the area under control using
stun grenades.
The square was the site of two uprisings that unseated Kyrgyz presidents in
2005 and 2010.
Key ally Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev arrived in Kyrgyzstan
Thursday for a meeting of a regional trade bloc and said he hoped that the
situation would stabilise.
Kyrgyzstan “has already reached its limit for revolutions,” Medvedev said.
“It would be very bad if this kind of event leads to political and,
therefore, economic instability in the country.” – Second operation
successful –
A widely shared video from Koi-Tash showed Atambayev negotiate the terms of
his surrender with Deputy Interior Minister Kursan Asanov Thursday, securing
a guarantee that police would not harm supporters who have holed up with him
at the compound in recent weeks.
Police said that no-one had died during the second operation, which saw law
enforcement ram a military vehicle through the gates of the residence before
using tear gas and smoke grenades to counter resistance from supporters.
Atambayev has ignored three police summonses for questioning in connection
with the release of a well-known underworld figure during his presidency. The
state prosecutor said Thursday that Atambayev figures in a total of five
criminal cases. Critics say the investigations are politically motivated.
On Wednesday an already tense political situation escalated when the
national security service announced an operation to take Atambayev from the
residence outside Bishkek, capital of the Muslim-majority nation of six
million people.
The first operation failed and descended into violence. – Security officers
beaten –
The health ministry said a special forces officer had died from a gunshot
wound and the head of the Chui province police department was in a critical
condition after being injured during the clashes on Wednesday.
The ministry said that 98 people required treatment as a result of the
clashes on both days.
Early Thursday President Jeenbekov convened a meeting of the state security
council and an emergency session of parliament.
Jeenbekov said during the security council meeting that Atambayev had
“rudely flouted the Constitution and laws of the Kyrgyz Republic” by
resisting detention.
– Putin intervention –
Parliament in June stripped Atambayev of his immunity as a former president
and the state prosecutor brought corruption charges against him.
The standoff has drawn in Russia — the country’s Soviet-era master and
traditional political patron — where hundreds of thousands of Kyrgyz work as
migrant labourers.
Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin met with both Jeenbekov and
Atambayev in Moscow in a bid to defuse the confrontation.
Erica Marat, associate professor at the National Defense University in
Washington D.C., said Atambayev’s outreach to Putin shows that “he clearly
sees himself as a viable political figure in Kyrgyzstan”, emboldening his
stance against the incumbent leader.
Marat said the pair’s confrontation is symptomatic of Kyrgyzstan’s failure
to reform its security institutions and courts.
“Jeenbekov must now decide whether to escalate violent confrontation with
Atambayev’s supporters or negotiate,” Marat said. – Ex-friends –
Jeenbekov and Atambayev were once friends, and the former leader backed the
incumbent in 2017 elections that marked an unprecedented peaceful transfer of
power between heads of state.
But they fell out just months after Jeenbekov’s inauguration as Atambayev
publicly criticised his successor and security services arrested several key
Atambayev allies.
Political analyst and video blogger Azim Azimov raised fears that the
standoff might devolve into a “civil conflict… if both sides decide to take
it to the end.”
“This is the most scary potential outcome,” he said in a video published
Thursday morning.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0915 hrs