Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Held For Two Months: Govt

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Feb, 2017 ) - A court in ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has jailed a prominent opposition leader for two months on corruption charges pending his trial, security services said Monday, after two days of protests in the fragile Central Asian country.

A statement from the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) said Tekebayev had been charged with corruption and would be "held until 25 April" at a GKNB penitentiary facility. The arrest of Omurbek Tekebayev following his arrival at the main airport early Sunday triggered a snap protest in the capital Bishkek that peaked at a thousand strong.

A smaller protest of around 500 people took place in the city on Monday, calling on President Almazbek Atambayev to release Tekebayev and even step down from office.

Atambayev is barred from running for another term at the upcoming presidential election in November.

Tekebayev, the leader of the parliamentary Ata-Meken party and a bitter adversary of Atambayev's, is being held in connection with an investigation into corruption at a key telecoms company. Specifically, he is accused of accepting a $1 million bribe from a Russian businessman to ease the purchase of the company in 2010.

The Ata-Meken party has dismissed the criminal case "fabricated". In Tekebayev's southern homeland of Jalal-Abad on Monday supporters attempted to block a main road, according to footage broadcast by private Kyrgyz media.