Kyrgyzstan's ex-president sentenced to 11 years in prison for corruption

A court in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday sentenced former President Almazbek Atambayev to 11 years and two months in prison on corruption charges, with the confiscation of property and deprival of all his state awards, reported Xinhua.

The court ruled that Atambayev unlawfully released Chechen criminal Aziz Batukayev.

Batukayev was sentenced in 2006 to 16 years and 8 months in prison for committing a series of crimes. However, in 2013 he was released and flew to Chechnya.

According to the investigation, Atambayev, while the country's president, gave direct instructions to release Batukayev.

Atambayev was summoned for interrogation three times but ignored each.

Atambayev was captured by the special forces of Kyrgyzstan and placed in a pre-trial detention center under the State Committee for National Security on Aug. 8, 2019.

During the special operation to detain the former president at his residence in a village near Bishkek, one soldier was killed and hundreds were injured when Atambayev's supporters resisted security forces.

Atambayev served as President of Kyrgyzstan from December 2011 until November 2017.