Court decision in Kyrgyzstan seizes property of former president's TV channel
By Trend
The property of Kyrgyzstan's April TV, controlled by the country's ex-president Almazbek Atambayev, has been seized by a court decision, the press service of the country's interior ministry told RIA Novosti, Trend reports.
The air broadcast of April TV, along with several other channels, was blocked on Aug. 7, the first day of the special operation to detain the former head of state.
According to Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Internal Affairs, interrogations of ex-president’s supporters on the fact of hostage-taking during the special operation in the village of Koy-Tash on Aug. 7 are also continuing. Two associates of the former head of state have been placed in a temporary detention center.
The leader of the largest parliamentary party of social democrats in Kyrgyzstan, Atambayev, transferred power to his successor and closest ally Sooronbai Jeenbekov in 2017 as a result of the presidential election.
However, shortly afterwards criminal proceedings were instituted against members of the ex-president’s team. Atambayev himself was stripped of his ex-president status and is suspected of a number of crimes. The former head of state has repeatedly stated that all charges against his associates are political in nature.
On the evening of August 7, special services of Kyrgyzstan launched an operation to detain ex-president Atambayev at his residence in the village of Koy-Tash located in Kyrgyzstan’s Chuy Region, 20 kilometers from the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek. Atambayev's supporters responded by opening fire. Detaining the ex-president proved unsuccessful. Atambayev’s supporters took six members of the special services personnel hostage.
Clashes between Atambayev's supporters and the security forces resumed the next day. The number of injured reached 98 people, and one commando was killed.
Atambayev surrendered to security officials on Aug. 8 evening. The day after his arrest, on Aug. 9, arrests and interrogations of his closest supporters followed, including former head of the presidential administration Farid Niyazov, Atambayev's adviser Kunduz Zholdubaeva, MPs Irina Karamushkina and Asel Koduranova.
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