FEB. 3 2021 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan swore in a new government with Ulubek Maripov, a 42-year-old technocrat who had headed up the government’s Account Chamber, as the PM. Media reported that the number of cabinet ministers had been cut to 16 from 48. Reports also said that the government was going to re-establish the Ministry of Defence, which had been cut in a shake-up in 2015 by then-president Almazbek Atambayev. He had folded the ministry’s powers into a State Committee for Defence Affairs.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

BISHKEK/FEB. 2 2021 (The Bulletin) —  Kyrgyz state prosecutors said they were considering opening a criminal investigation into former president Sooronbai Jeenbekov focused on his orders to security forces in October when they clashed with demonstrators in Bishkek, killing one person.

Shortly after the Prosecutor’s announcement, Mr Jeenbekov and his wife flew out of Kyrgyzstan for what his representative said was a Hajj to Saudi Arabia. Analysts said, though, that he may flee into exile, a tactic used by other former Kyrgyz presidents to avoid prosecutions.

In 2005, deposed Kyrgyz president Askar Akayev flew to Moscow and in 2010 Kurmanbek Bakiyev was given asylum in Belarus. Of the other two former presidents, Roza Otunbayeva lives in Bishkek, but stays out of politics, and Almazbek Atambayev is in prison.

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— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021