Kyrgyzstan Orders Ousted President's Extradition

Former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's interim government have ordered prosecutors to seek the extradition of former President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who was ousted in a violent revolt last month.

Farid Niyazov, a spokesman for the interim government, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service in Bishkek on May 4 that the measure was signed by the head of the government, Roza Otunbaeva, and adopted unanimously.

"With this decree, the provisional government reaffirms that the people of Kyrgyzstan have removed Kurmanbek Bakiev from the post of president," Niyazov said.

The order came in a decree that lifted Bakiev's immunity and also ordered prosecutors to open a criminal investigation against him for his involvement in a bloody crackdown on protesters in Bishkek last month.

Bakiev is currently in Belarus, where he fled in the aftermath of the turmoil, which left 85 people dead.

However, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on May 4 he would not hand over Bakiev.

Lukashenka told Reuters that an extradition request for Bakiev would be "hopeless and humiliating for the interim government."

with agency reports