Kyrgyzstan's former president Atambayev goes abroad for treatment

BISHKEK. Feb 15 (Interfax) - Former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, who was released from a penitentiary on Tuesday, and his junior son Kadyr left on Wednesday morning for Dubai, from where the ex-leader will go to Spain for health screening, the ex-president's circle told Interfax on Wednesday.

Atambayev's lawyer Sergei Slesarev told Interfax there were no obstacles to international travel of the former president.

"He needs a health check, after which a decision on a surgery will be made. It is hard to tell how long that may take," Slesarev said.

Slesarev also commented on the outstanding criminal cases against Atambayev. "There are no legal grounds supporting the charges. They could not have held him liable even if something had happened. Atambayev had the immunity status, and it was breached," Slesarev said.

The Kyrgyz Supreme Court said on Tuesday that the case, in which Atambayev was sentenced to eleven years of incarceration, would be reviewed in the context of new circumstances.

The Pervomaisky District Court allowed Atambayev to leave Kyrgyzstan for treatment. He was released from a penitentiary on Tuesday evening on that basis.

Atambayev served as the Kyrgyz president from 2011 to 2017. He was stripped of immunity in June 2019, detained on August 8, 2019, and indicted on several criminal counts.

On June 23, 2020, the Pervomaisky District Court in Bishkek sentenced Atambayev to 11 years and two months of imprisonment and ordered confiscation of his assets on charges of the illegal release from custody of crime lord Aziz Batukayev in 2013.

Atambayev was later acquitted on counts of abuse of office and corruption. A court also quitted him on counts of organizing mass unrest in October 2020 due to the absence of formal elements of a crime.