Kyrgyzstan to seek Bakiyev’s trial

Interim leader says the ousted president was allowed to leave, but will face justice.

Roza Otunbayeva
Otunbayeva said it was too early to say if she would run for president [AFP]

New constitution

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 Profile: Roza Otunbayeva
 Interview: Kurmanbek Bakiyev
 People&Power: Revolution gone wrong
 

 

 Inside Story
 Russia’s growing influence
 Behind Kyrgyzstan’s unrest
  
 

Videos:

 Ousted Kyrgyz leader seeks UN help
 Kyrgyzstan mourns victims of unrest
 Kyrgyz citizens look for land
 Bakiyev calls for protest probe
 

Roots of Kyrgyz uprising persist

 

Interview: Roza Otunbayeva

Otunbayeva said her temporary government was working on a new constitution to set up a parliamentary democracy in the central Asian country.

“We agreed on a parliamentary republic system and now we have a working group which is drafting a constitution,” Otunbayeva said, adding that it was too early to say if she herself would run for president in elections expected in about six months.

“We didn’t decide yet. I don’t know so far myself,” Otunbayeva said, adding that basic questions such as how the president would be elected remained to be worked out.

Otunbayeva said that Bakiyev had submitted his resignation in a hand-written letter faxed to the capital, Bishkek.

“I tender my resignation in these tragic days as I understand the full scale of my responsibility for the future of the Kyrgyz people,” She read portions of the letter in a televised address to the nation.

Al Jazeera’s Roza Ibragimova, reporting from Bishkek, said Otunbayeva used the address to explain why the interim government decided to let Bakiyev leave: “She said that he had become a source of instability … and they could no longer tolerate that.”

Days of turmoil

Bakiyev fled to neighbouring Kazakhstan on Thursday, ending days of turmoil.

Officials say he is in the Kazakh city of Taraz, from where he could fly on to Turkey or Latvia.

Kazakhstan, which chairs the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, confirmed Bakiyev’s arrival and said it was an important step towards preventing civil war.

It said that joint efforts between themselves and Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, the Russian and US presidents respectively, had allowed for the agreement for Bakiyev to leave the country.

Kazakhstan also said that the move would help to bring stability and the rule of law to Kyrgyzstan.

Since being ousted, Bakiyev had been holed up in Jalalabad where he maintains support.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies