Kyrgyzstan marks 4th revolution anniversary
BISHKEK. April 7 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan is observing the fourth anniversary of the April 2010 events also known as the People's April Revolution, which ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and brought to power opposition forces led by Rosa Otunbayeva and Almazbek Atambayev.
Back on April 7, 2010, the Kyrgyz opposition stood up against the corrupt regime of the family clan, for which, in the words of Kyrgyz President Atambayev, "terror and killings of political opponents and journalists, unlawfulness and outrage had become a custom and a method of governance."
On Monday Kyrgyzstan is holding memorial events dedicated to the revolution of April 7, 2010. Main events were held on the central square of Bishkek and the Ata-Beyit memorial, where 30 out of 87 people who died in clashes with the government forces in the Bishkek center were buried.
Four years have passed but it is still unknown who opened fire on the demonstrators and who was responsible for the deaths, Kyrgyz experts said.
The trial related to the April 2010 events has been on for 3.5 years and results of ballistic tests have become known just now. According to them, security service and Interior Ministry servicemen did not use arms against the protesters.
The prosecutor asked to acquit the servicemen but the families of the victims were strongly opposed to that. Snipers who allegedly killed the protesters have yet to be found.
So far, the main defendants are former President Bakiyev and his brother, former head of the presidential security guards Zhanybek (Zhanysh) Bakiyev, as well as members of the former president's administration. Their trial was held in absentia. Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his family moved to Belarus in April 2010, and his brother and two sons, Marat and Maxim, are on the international most wanted list.
Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly asked countries, among them Belarus, where members of the Bakiyev family may be staying, for their extradition.
It was announced at the trial last week that the culpability of Bakiyev and his junior brother of connivance with and organization of the murder (77 people died on the square) and abuse of office was proven and the prosecutors asked for life in jail for them.