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Kyrgyzstan Opens Trial Against Ousted President

   VOA News 17 November 2010
   FILE  -  This file photo of Tuesday, April 13, 2010 shows Kyrgyzstan's
   deposed  President  Kurmanbek  Bakiyev  delivering  a  speech  to  his
   supporters  during  a  rally  in  the  town  of Jalal-Abad in southern
   Kyrgyzstan.

Photo: AP

   Kyrgyzstan's  deposed  President Kurmanbek Bakiyev delivering a speech
   to  his  supporters  during a rally in the town of Jalalabad, southern
   Kyrgyzstan in April (FILE).

   Former  Kyrgyz  President  Kurmanbek  Bakiyev and 27 of his top allies
   went  on  trial  Wednesday on charges of using deadly violence against
   protesters in April.
   The former president is being tried in absentia.  More than 80 people
   were   killed   during  the  uprising,  which  toppled  Mr.  Bakiyev's
   government. Â
   A  number of people gathered outside the building in Bishkek where the
   trial  is  underway  to  demand  punishment of the officials for their
   alleged involvement in the attempt to suppress the uprising.  The new
   government  in Kyrgyzstan has said the former president and his allies
   ordered security forces to shoot at the demonstrators.
   The  trial  comes  a  week after Kyrgyzstan's newly-elected parliament
   convened for its first session.
   Elections  were held last month, with the nationalist party Ata-Zhurt,
   or  Fatherland,  emerging  as  the  lead vote-getter. Ata-Zhurt is now
   leading talks to form a coalition government.
   The United States, which operates a military air base in Kyrgyzstan to
   support  the  war  in  Afghanistan,  has embraced the Kyrgyz effort to
   create the region's first parliamentary democracy.
   Russia,  which  also  has  an  air  base  in  Kyrgyzstan,  opposes the
   parliamentary model.
   Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by instability since the deadly rebellion.
   Riots  broke  out in June between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in
   the  country's  south,  killing hundreds of people and displacing some
   400,000 others.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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