BELARUS/FILE: President Alexander Lukashenko vows not hand over ousted Kyrgz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev

Record ID: 357071

  • Title: BELARUS/FILE: President Alexander Lukashenko vows not hand over ousted Kyrgz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
  • Date: 5th May 2010
  • Summary: MINSK, BELARUS (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) DEPOSED KYRGYZ PRESIDENT KURMANBEK BAKIYEV WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE BAKIYEV SPEAKING AT NEWS CONFERENCE WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN (FILE) (REUTERS) PEOPLE PICKING UP STONES AND HURLING IT TOWARDS RIOT POLICE TEAR GAS GRENADE IN GRASS RIOT POLICE GROUPING TOGETHER, CROWD CHEERING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 20th May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7DJ8WPOFOTR0ED9O9SF4K159J
  • Story Text: Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday (May 4) he would not hand over Kyrgyzstan's ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to face charges over the violent upheaval in the Central Asian nation last month.
    In an interview with Reuters the same day that Kyrgyzstan's interim government ordered prosecutors to seek Bakiyev's extradition, Lukashenko said such a request would be futile.
    "Nobody has officially appealed to me, but I want to immediately declare officially: such an appeal would be hopeless and humiliating for the interim government, because they know what the answer will be," said Lukashenko.
    The president of Kyrgyzstan is under the protection of the Belorussian state and its president. The president of Kyrgyzstan remains the president today. He wasn't stripped of his duties," he added.
    Bakiyev fled to Belarus following his overthrow in April 7-8 turmoil in which least 85 people were killed.
    Kyrgyzstan's interim government, made up of Bakiyev's opponents, earlier accused him of mass murder in connection with the violence in which security forces fired on protesters, some of whom were armed.
    Lukashenko blamed Bakiyev's opponents for the bloodshed, defended the actions of Bakiyev's security forces and sharply criticised Russia and the West, which have engaged the interim government and promised support.
    Russia and the United States both operate military air bases in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
    "Not only Russia, but also the West, create a terrible precedent by supporting an illegal government which came to power through bloodshed and with the help of arms. It is a terrible precedent," Lukashenko said.
    Russia's support for the interim government and speculation that Moscow had a hand in Bakiyev's overthrow may have rattled Lukashenko, who has depended on Moscow's economic and political backing during his 16-year rule.
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