Kyrgyz opposition figure Tekebayev calls his case political
BISHKEK. March 1 (Interfax) - Leader of the Kyrgyz Ata-Meken opposition party Omurbek Tekebayev believes that the criminal case launched against him is a political provocation.
Interfax was told at the party's secretariat on Wednesday that from his detention facility Tekebayev "addressed the people of Kyrgyzstan with a letter saying that he rejects all charges brought against him; he regards them as a political provocation."
On Tuesday Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said that there were no political considerations behind Tekebayev's arrest and that only charges of fraud are in question.
The Kyrgyz Prosecutor General's Office said on February 25 that a criminal case had been opened against Tekebayev on corruption and fraud charges related to the MegaCom (PJSC Alfa Telecom) mobile network operator. The case derived from a statement filed by Leonid Mayevsky, owner of several Russian telecom companies, who claimed that the politician had been paid $1 million for the operator's preferential treatment in 2010, when he was a deputy prime minister of the interim government.
Tekebayev was detained for 48 hours early in the morning of February 26 at Bishkek Manas Airport after having returned from an OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session in Vienna.
On Monday a court ruled to arrest the politician for two months.
Tekebayev has been the sole leader of the Ata-Meken opposition party. He was first elected to the Kyrgyz parliament in the middle of the 1990s and held the speaker's office in 2005-2006. Following the change in regime in April 2010, he was a deputy prime minister in the interim government supervising constitutional reform.
In 2005 and 2010, Tekebayev and his party were actively involved in the events which led to regime change in Kyrgyzstan and the flight of Presidents Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
In 2016 Tekebayev accused Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev and his entourage of corruption several times. He was also opposed constitutional amendments adopted on December 11 as a result of a referendum. In his opinion, the amendments are aimed at usurping power.
