Atambayev says he won't allow Kyrgyz Interior Ministry officers into his house
BISHKEK. July 9 (Interfax) - Former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev does not want to join investigative activity carried out by the Interior Ministry and will not allow Interior Ministry officers to enter his house for investigative actions.
"I want to say once again that I do not want to take part in this circus, as the authorities first should get back to the legal field, and only after that one can speak of any legal actions," Atambayev told the press on Tuesday.
He said that he does not want to go to the Interior Ministry for an interrogation, no matter how many subpoenas he received, and will not allow Interior Ministry officials into his house to conduct an interrogation. "Why should I allow someone into my house, I will allow only those, who are close to me; they are not interested in the truth. All of this is being done to somehow make me shut up in legal or illegal ways," the ex-president added.
When asked about his actions, should there will be an attempt to bring him for interrogation by force, Atambayev replied that he "is ready for everything, but the authorities also should thoroughly think, as the Kyrgyz president's main duty is the unity of the country."
The former president is convinced that stripping him of immunity, the parliament's accusation against him for committing several crimes "are actions of the state authorities outside the legal field, as the law has no retroactive effect, and now everything is used to slander me and my family."
He said that several days after the parliament had deprived him of immunity and the status of the ex-president, officers of the 9th Service of the State National Security Committee ceased to guard his house.
"My house is a guarded area, and it should be guarded by the State Guard Service in line with the law until the guilty verdict takes effect, and the fact that they stopped guarding the area surrounding the house is a breach of the law, too," Atambayev added.
On Monday, Interior Ministry officials delivered a subpoena demanding that he turn up for an interrogation as a witness on July 9 to Atambayev's house in the village of Koi-Tash, 20 kilometers away from Bishkek, on Monday. However, neither Atambayev, nor his lawyer Sergei Slesaryov came to the Interior Ministry's Main Investigative Directorate for the interrogation on Tuesday.
On June 27, the Kyrgyz parliament approved by 103 votes the decision to strip former President Atambayev of immunity, at the same time, depriving him of the status of the ex-president that strips him of immunity from the criminal prosecution. This has happened after the Prosecutor General's Office has backed those accusations, which were brought against the former Kyrgyz president by the parliament.
Atambayev has served as Kyrgyz president between 2011 and 2017.