Former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev has left Bishkek for Spain one day after he was released from prison to receive medical treatment abroad.
Atambaev was serving an 11-year prison term for his role in the illegal release of notorious crime boss Aziz Batukaev in 2013.
Kunduz Joldubaeva, a spokeswoman for Atambaev’s Social Democratic Party, told RFE/RLon February 15 that he will undergo medical treatment in Spain for a herniated disc in his back and some unspecified heart issues.
President Sadyr Japarov said in a televised interview on February 15 that all decisions related to Atambaev have been made in accordance with the law and called for the public to respect the court rulings regarding the ex-president.
After his release from prison on February 14, Atambaev said he would return to Kyrgyzstan as soon as he finished his treatment abroad.
The February 14 decision to release Atambaev by Bishkek’s Birinchi Mai district court came a day after the Central Asian state’s Supreme Court decided to send Atambaev’s case for retrial due to “new circumstances revealed in the case.”
Batukaev, who was convicted of several high-profile crimes including the murders of a Kyrgyz lawmaker and an Interior Ministry official, was granted early release after being diagnosed with leukemia in 2013.
His diagnosis was later found to have been falsified, while after the release, Batukaev immediately left Kyrgyzstan for his native Chechnya, in Russia’s North Caucasus.
In 2020, Atambaev was convicted of involvement in Batukaev’s illegal release and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Atambaev maintained innocence, insisting that the case was politically motivated.
Atambaev, 66, is currently on trial in another case related to the August 2019 clashes between his supporters and security forces in his residential compound near Bishkek.
The two-day standoff between security forces and Atambaev’s supporters resulted in the death of a top security officer and more than 170 injuries — 79 of them sustained by law enforcement officers.
Atambaev and 13 others are charged with murder, attempted murder, threatening or assaulting official representatives, hostage taking, and the forcible seizure of power in that case.