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Ousted Kyrgyz president steps down - source

15 April 2010 23:24 (UTC +04:00)

The source said Bakiyev submitted his resignation before leaving the country. However, there was no official confirmation of the report.
Protests began in the northwestern Kyrgyz town of Talas on April 7 and spread to other regions of the country including the capital. Over 80 people were killed and more than 1,500 injured. Bakiyev fled the capital, Bishkek, and an interim government was formed.
Bakiyev previously said he would only step down if he was guaranteed safety and amnesty for himself and his relatives. The Kyrgyz provisional government rejected the terms set by Bakiyev saying they could only guarantee his personal security.
The Kazakh Foreign Ministry announced earlier on Thursday that Bakiyev had arrived in Kazakhstan to hold talks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The Russian President’s press-secretary Nataliya Timakova said Russian troops ensured Bakiyev’s safety during his flight to Kazakhstan.
The Kyrgyz interim government said it had allowed the deposed president to leave the country for his own safety.
Interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva said the former president, who had been hiding in his traditional stronghold in the country’s south, became "a destabilizing factor" in the society.
"Amid popular anger, the interim government had no opportunity to provide safety for the former president, as is required by law [...] We also thought about the image of Kyrgyzstan, its people and its government; [an image] of a civilized country, which does not allow medieval-style punishment of a former president," Roza Otunbayeva said.
She added that international organizations and world leaders had repeatedly asked that the interim government prevent the lynching of the former president.
"None of Bakiyev’s supporters and relatives, who stayed with him until the end, will be allowed to leave the country. Those who committed crimes will soon be detained and tried," she said.
A source in the Kyrgyz provisional government said Former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Baktybek Kalyyev had been arrested in Jalal-Abad on Thursday.
The minister, who was one of the closest associates of deposed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was accused of shooting civilians during the opposition rally on April 7 at Government House in the capital of the ex-Soviet Central Asian republic, Bishkek.
The source said two ex-security service heads, Zhanysh Bakiyev, the ousted president’s younger brother, and Murat Sutalinov are also wanted on charges of shooting civilians during the rally.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement his decision on whether to resume full-scale relations with the new Kyrgyz government will be made independently "taking into account the popular will of the Kyrgyz people and the ability of current leaders to maintain order and deal with social and economic tasks."
The Russian President said on Russian television on Thursday he believes the collapse of the former Kyrgyz government was caused by corruption and nepotism.