Kyrgyzstan’s interim government will be demanding the extradition of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from Minsk, Roza Otunbayeva, leader of the government, said on May 11.
"Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka has given protection to Kurmanbek Bakiyev," local media outlets quoted Ms. Otunbayeva as saying in Bishkek. "I would like to say that such moves also aggravate the situation in Belarus where the opposition is rapidly awakening. It opposes harshly Lukashenka’s politics. I think that he himself is to blame for the situation."
Mr. Bakiyev should be held liable for "his actions," she said. "We are accused of letting him leave the country. But we took this decision to prevent the destabilization of the situation in the country," Ms. Otunbayeva said.
Kyrgyzstan’s Prosecutor General’s Office on May 6 sent to Minsk a formal request for the extradition of Mr. Bakiyev, Azimbek Nazarov, deputy head of the Kyrgyz interim government, said last Friday.
Mr. Bakiyev has taken refuge in Belarus since April 19 after being overthrown in a violent uprising earlier that month.
The interim authorities in Kyrgyzstan on April 27 called for the deposed president to be extradited from Belarus to face trial for allegedly sanctioning gunfire on a crowd of protesters that left more than 80 people dead.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka has offered support to the ousted president of Kyrgyzstan throughout the crisis and said earlier this month that he would not surrender him to Bishkek.
In an interview with Reuters last week, the Belarusian leader said that no extradition request for Mr. Bakiyev had been officially sent to Belarus.
"But I want to immediately declare officially: such an appeal would be hopeless and humiliating for the interim government [in Kyrgyzstan]," he said. "The president of Kyrgyzstan is under the protection of the Belarusian state and its president."
