Kyrgyzstan ex-leader sentenced to 11 years in crime boss case

Kyrgyzstan's former president was sentenced to 11 years in jail Tuesday over the illegal release of a crime boss, a case that caused a violent power struggle with his successor.

According to AFP, the presiding judge at a court in the capital Bishkek handed Almazbek Atambayev the sentence of 11 years and two months and ruled the ex-leader be stripped of all state honours as well as his homes and businesses.

Atambayev, who is 63 and has claimed ill health, did not attend the sentencing.

Speaking after the verdict, Atambayev's lawyer Sergei Slesarev said the prosecution had not proved his client's guilt. In sentencing him, the judicial system had "fulfilled the task put before it" by authorities, he argued.

The early release from jail of ethnic Chechen crime boss Aziz Batukayev in 2013 caused a scandal in Central Asian Kyrgyzstan, where organised crime and politics are often seen as closely linked.

Investigators later found that the medical documents that provided the basis for Batukayev's release and subsequent travel to Russia had been forged.

Atambayev, who was president at the time, has always denied knowledge of the falsification.

Kyrgyzstan, which has seen two revolutions in less than two decades, saw a standoff last year between Atambayev and his one-time protege President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

SS