Kremlin: Kyrgyzstan’s decision to strip ex-president of immunity is domestic affair
The ex-president of Kyrgyzstan may be held liable on numerous charges
MOSCOW, June 27. /TASS/. The decision of Kyrgyz authorities to strip the country’s former president Almazbek Atambayev of immunity is purely a domestic affair and Russia cannot meddle in this, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"This is an absolutely domestic affair of any country, this is a domestic affair of Kyrgyzstan. We cannot and have no plans to interfere with these affairs," Peskov said.
The Russian presidential spokesperson thinks it wrong to judge about the practice of stripping former leaders of immunity in general. "It would be wrong to judge here, each country has its own practice in this case," he explained.
Earlier on Thursday, Kyrgyz MPs decided by majority vote to strip ex-president Atambayev of his immunity. After this decision, Atambayev can be held accountable for several criminal cases against him.
Atambayev, 62, served as Kyrgyzstan’s president in 2011-2017 and was the country’s only leader to leave office after his first term expired. The first and the second presidents of the Central Asian republic, Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev, were ousted through revolutions.
The former president is accused of corruption during the reconstruction of Bishkek’s thermal power station and illegal supplies of coal for it, unlawful allocation of land, facilitation to the release of crime lord Aziz Batukayev as well as obtaining a land plot for building a residential house.
The ex-Kyrgyz president earlier said he was not planning to attend the interrogation, dismissing the investigation on the grounds that the political prosecution against him was initiated by the current authorities.