Kyrgyz Parliamentarians To Investigate Kingpin's Early Release

Organized crime boss Aziz Batukaev

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's parliament has established a commission to investigate the early release of organized crime boss Aziz Batukaev.

According to the parliament's decision on April 11, the commission has three weeks to find out all circumstances surrounding Batukaev's release from jail earlier this week.

Batukaev, an ethnic Chechen, left Kyrgyzstan for Chechnya on April 9.

He was sentenced to almost 17 years in jail in 2006 for his involvement in several crimes, including the murder of a Kyrgyz lawmaker, his two associates, and an Interior Ministry official.

Officials of the penitentiary in the northern city of Naryn where Batukaev was serving his prison term, say he was released due to his health condition.

They insist Batukaev suffers from a serious form of leukemia.