BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court is scheduled to start hearings into the bribe-taking case of opposition politicians Omurbek Tekebaev and Duishonkul Chotonov on July 16.
The hearings have been initiated by the two politicians’ lawyers, who say they have evidence proving that a key witness in the case, Russian businessman Leonid Mayevsky, had lied when testifying at the politicians' trial almost two years ago.
Tekebaev and Chotonov, a former emergency situations minister, were convicted of bribe-taking and sentenced to eight years in prison each in August 2017.
Both denied any wrongdoing.
Tekebaev is the leader of the Ata-Meken (Fatherland) party, which said the trial was a politically motivated effort to keep him out of the Central Asian country's October 2017 presidential election.
Supreme Court To Look Into Jailed Kyrgyz Opposition Leaders' Bribe-Taking Case
Omurbek Tekebaev in a Bishkek courtroom in 2017