Kyrgyzstan court acquits former President Atambayev of crimes over 2020 riots

June 28. (EUROPA PRESS) –

A court in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, has acquitted former president Almazbek Atambayev (2011-2017) on Tuesday of the accusations that placed him behind the organization of a series of riots in 2020, a few days after the same court exempted him of crimes of corruption and abuse of power.

Judge Ubaidulú Satimkulov’s ruling maintains that Atambaev “is not guilty of organizing mass riots in Bishkek in October 2020″ and therefore acquits him due to the absence of evidence,” explained the press service of this court to the agency Russian Interfax.

However, Atambayev must remain in home custody, after he was sentenced in mid-2020 to eleven years and two months in prison, as well as the removal of part of his assets, for a crime of corruption that occurred in 2013 in relation to the release of mafia boss Aziz Batukaev.

At the same time, he is waiting to find out the outcome of the appeal filed in the other pending case, also related to his alleged responsibility in a series of riots and confrontations that took place this time in August 2009 in the small town of Koi Tash, in the north of Kyrgyzstan.

Along with him, the one who was his main adviser during the Presidency, Farid Niyazov, has also been acquitted; the former Deputy Minister of the Interior, Kursan Asanov; and his bodyguard, Kanat Sagimbayev.

It is the second time that the former Kyrgyz president has recently emerged victorious from a judicial proceeding, after in mid-June 2022, a Bishkek court acquitted him of the crimes of corruption and abuse of power, in relation to irregularities in the building a school and issuing passports to Turkish citizens.