BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities say they have apprehended a man suspected of involvement in what police called the political assassination of opposition politician Medet Sadyrkulov more than 10 years ago.
The suspect, identified as 41-year-old Sanjar Saparbekov, was arrested over the weekend and placed in pretrial detention for at least two months, Interior Ministry spokesman Ernis Osmonbaev told RFE/RL on November 30.
Saparbekov was a childhood friend of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev's son, Maksim Bakiev, and has been on the wanted list for 10 years, according to the ministry.
Sadyrkulov and two associates were found dead in a burned-out car near Bishkek in March 2009. The deaths were initially ruled to be the result of a traffic accident.
Medet Sadyrkulov
The high-profile case was reopened after President Bakiev fled the country in April 2010 following mass anti-government demonstrations in the capital, and the deaths were characterized as assassinations.
In 2012, a Bishkek court convicted ex-President Bakiev and his brother Janysh in absentia of involvement in the killing, and sentenced them to 24 years in prison and to life imprisonment, respectively.
In a separate trial held that year, five former security officers were also sentenced to prison terms for their roles in the killing.
Bakiev, who served as president from 2005 until 2010, has been living in Belarus since his ouster. Belarusian authorities have refused to extradite him and his relatives to Kyrgyzstan.