Absent ex-Kyrgyzstan President Bakiyev Gets Life Sentence
Kyrgyzstan's exiled former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was sentenced in absentia Friday to life in prison and his assets confiscated for trying to put down anti-government protests in 2010.
Bakiyev fled the country with his family in the wake of the violent protests against corruption and soaring living costs in the former Soviet central Asian republic that left more than 80 people dead.
The court in the capital Bishkek also sentenced Bakiyev's younger brother, Janibek Bakiyev, who was a former security chief, to spend the rest of his life behind bars for his part in the failed attempt to repress the protests in April 2010.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev's son, Maxim, was ordered to 10 years in jail for money laundering and abandoning his post.
Janibek Bakiyev and Maxim Bakyev were also absent for the verdicts against them.
Two others top officials alleged to have followed Janibek Bakiyev's orders were sentenced to 25 years each.
Bakiyev and his family now live in Belarus, another ex-Soviet republic. They deny all charges and have branded the legal action against them as politically motivated.
Source: Agence France Presse
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