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Former Kyrgyz president arrested until August 26 — lawyer

Former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev's lawyer said that "the judge made a decision to arrest Atambayev for the duration of investigative activities"
Former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Former Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

BISHKEK, August 9. /TASS/. Kyrgyzstan's former president Almazbek Atambayev will be arrested until August 26 upon the court's ruling, his lawyer Sergey Slesarev told TASS on Friday.

"Upon the court's ruling, Atambayev will be arrested until August 26," Slesarev said. He added that the court ruling was pronounced in the building of the State Committee of National Security, where a judge of Bishkek's Pervomaisky court was invited. "The judge made a decision to arrest Atambayev for the duration of investigative activities," the lawyer noted. The former Kyrgyz president was charged with corruption, he added.

Slesarev said that several procedural norms were violated during Atambayev's detention. "No documents about detention were provided to the defendant. He was handed a notification, and preventive measures were immediately chosen," the lawyev stressed.

Atambayev was detained on Thursday in his residence in the village of Koi-Tash in a special operation that lasted for almost 24 hours. The special operation started on Wednesday, when Kyrgyz special forces made the first attempt to detain Atambayev who is suspected of corruption and was stripped of immunity. Supporters of the former president, who repeatedly refuted accusations against him, resisted. One special forces officer died in the operation. According to latest reports, 98 people sought medical assistance.

Kyrgyzstan's President Sooronbay Jeenbekov said that Atambayev violated the constitution by resorting to armed resistance to special forces.