BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov says the Military Prosecutor's Office is looking into the legality of actions by security officers who killed notorious Kyrgyz organized-crime figure Kamchy Kolbaev (aka Kamchybek Asanbek) earlier in October.
The State Committee of National Security (UKMK) said on October 4 that Kolbaev, who was added by Washington to a list of major global drug-trafficking suspects in 2011, was "liquidated" during a special operation in Bishkek after he resisted arrest and opened fire at security forces.
"The case was given to the Military Prosecutor's Office to check if the special operation was handled legally or illegally. The investigation is under way. Let us wait for the results," Japarov said in a televised interview on October 16.
Last week, the UKMK said it detained more than 40 persons on suspicion of having links to the late kingpin and impounded $1 billion in property and assets belonging to Kolbaev.
The 49-year-old Kolbaev, known as a "thief-in-law," a title traditionally given to kingpins among criminal groups in former Soviet republics, was detained in October 2020 on suspicion of organizing a criminal group and participating in the activities of an organized criminal group.
The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek welcomed Kolbaev's detention at the time and expressed hope that Kyrgyz authorities would "prosecute and continue to detain this dangerous criminal leader in the interest of public safety."
However, in early March 2021, Kolbaev was released from pretrial detention and ordered not to leave Bishkek.
Weeks before his early release, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms of Kolbaev's criminal network, which it described as being "part of the broader Brothers' Circle transnational criminal organization composed of leaders and members of several Eurasian criminal groups."