BISHKEK, Kygyzstan — Three former senior Kyrgyz officials, accused of key roles in the killing of dozens in the uprising that deposed President Kurman Bakiyev, have fled their homes to avoid standing trial, a prosecutor said Monday.
The trial of 22 former government officials and security officers collapsed in chaos when it opened Nov. 17, and the defendants were evacuated after dozens of relatives of the dead, calling for their execution, clashed with police.
When the trial resumed in a Bishkek sports palace on Monday, a prosecutor announced that Bakiyev’s prosecutor-general, his former chief of staff and the head of his secretariat had fled their apartments with their families for an unknown destination.
Most of the accused are under house arrest, but it is not clear if their apartments are guarded by security officers. The judge ordered the fugitives to be seized and taken into custody.
(Reuters)
