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Kyrgyz court postpones trial of ousted president after bomb blast

30 November 2010 23:18 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the trial of officials of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s government after a bomb exploded outside the courthouse, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

The explosion in Bishkek, which slightly injured two police officers, came ahead of a visit Thursday to the Central Asian nation by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to reports reaching here.

A media secretary for the court said Tuesday’s explosion, which left a deep crater in the road, temporarily shelved the trial but the proceedings apparently won’t be moved to another location.

The self-exiled former President Bakiyev was among the 28 former officials on trial on charges that they were ordering troops to shoot at demonstrators during protests in April, which left 87 dead and more than 500 injured.

An interim government was formed by the opposition after Bakiyev fled to Belarus and resigned as president following the riot.

Bakiyev, his brother Dzhanybek Bakiyev, former head of the nation’s security service, and the ex-president’s elder son, Marat Bakiyev, have been charged in absentia.

Clinton’s visit comes amid U.S. attempts to buttress stability in the troubled former Soviet nation, which hosts a key air transit facility used as a jumping-off point for troops traveling to and from nearby Afghanistan.

Tensions are high in Kyrgyzstan amid sensitive political bargaining over the formation of a new government and renewed violence involving Islamic militants in the restive south.