House arrest of Tekebayev and Chotonov extended

AKIPRESS.COM - The Pervomai district court of Bishkek on December 23 prolonged the house arrest of a leader of the Ata Meken party Omurbek Tekebayev and ex-Minister of Emergency Situations Duishonkul Chotonov until February 29, 2019.
The process is being held under chairmanship of Ainura Satarova.
She said there are no newly discovered circumstances in the case and decided to extend the trial.
Tekebayev and Chotonov were released from jail under house arrest on August 29. The Supreme Court on August 21 sustained the motion of the attorneys of Tekebayev and Chotonov to reconsider their cases in view of new circumstances. The previous court rulings were canceled. The case was forwarded back to the Pervomaiskiy district court of Bishkek for re-consideration.
On February 25, 2017, the General Prosecutor's Office launched criminal probe against Tekebayev and others on corruption and fraud charges on the basis of the statement made by Russian businessman Leonid Mayevskiy, who claimed he gave $1 million to Tekebayev for a stake in the mobile operator Alfa Telecom. Tekebayev was detained at Manas Airport upon arrival from Europe. Both were sentenced to 8 years in prison. The politicians denied the guilt saying the case was politically motivated.
Maevsky himself was taken into custody in 2018 on suspicion of extorting $37.5 million in exchange for unpublicizing defamatory information, according to Russian media.