BISHKEK -- The leader of Kyrgyzstan has strongly urged Belarus to extradite former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev and his brother Janysh Bakiev, calling his predecessor's family "monsters" and "cannibalistic" killers.
In a statement released by his office on February 26, President Almazbek Atambaev said that Belarus has "given shelter to villains."
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said separately that a witness in a killing of Kyrgyz crime boss Almambet Anapiyaev, who was found dead in Minsk last week, has told Kyrgyz investigators that Anapiyaev met with Janysh Bakiev on the day he died.
"Who else do the Bakievs have to kill before Belarusian authorities will at last see the bestial and cannibalistic nature of this criminal family? Those monsters will shed blood anywhere, where they are, including Belarus that provided a shelter to them," Atambaev said.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison in absentia after being convicted of involvement in the killing of protesters during the uprising that ousted Kurmanbek Bakiev in 2010.
Janysh Bakiev headed the state bodyguards service at the time.
Both fled to Belarus, which has rejected previous requests for their extradition.
