Kyrgyzstan canceled the sentence of former President Almazbek Atambaev, who was convicted of corruption during the release of criminal authority Aziz Batukaev. This was announced on his Facebook page by the chairman of the Social Democrats party founded by the ex-president Temirlan Sultanbekov. According to him, Atambayev has been released from prison.
“Over the past two years, Almazbek Atambayev has been fully acquitted in criminal cases for a school in Kalys-Ordo, for Turkish citizens’ passports, for an attempt to seize state power, for the October events, and the commission created by the authorities has fully proved Atambayev’s innocence in the cargo of an aircraft that crashed in Dacha-SU. Today, the verdict in the Batukaev case has been annulled: we have been seeking this for a long time, finally the truth has triumphed, ”the politician wrote.
According to Sultanbekov, the persecution of Atambaev was organized by his political opponents, the Jeenbekov clan, but their "lie <...> crumbled before the eyes of all our beloved people." An associate of the ex-president also noted that his health had suffered greatly in detention and now he needs two operations.
24.kg writes that Atambaev was allowed to leave Kyrgyzstan for treatment. At the same time, according to the publication, the case against the ex-president has not been closed, but has been sent for additional investigation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In the summer of 2020, the court sentenced Almazbek Atambayev to 11 years in prison. The ex-president was accused of involvement in the illegal release from the colony of criminal authority Aziz Batukaev, who was serving a 17-year sentence. In 2013, he was released thanks to the decision of the medical commission, which diagnosed him with blood cancer in the last stage.As of 2020, Batukaev was still alive.
In the case of the illegal release of Batukaev, 19 people were involved, including two former prosecutors general, Indira Dzholdubaeva and Aida Salyanova.
In total, seven criminal cases were initiated against Atambayev, who served as president in 2011-2017. As Vecherniy Bishkek clarifies , he was acquitted on charges of abuse of power in the construction of a school in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, as well as involvement in the illegal issuance of Kyrgyz passports to several Turkish citizens. At the same time, the publication claims that Atambaev remains under investigation in several more cases.
Radio Azattyk writes that last year Atambaev was also acquitted in the case of organizing the riots in October 2020.