Kyrgyz leader Bakiyev stripped of immunity

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 4 (UPI) -- The interim government in Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday it was stripping immunity from Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the ousted president with a $100,000 bounty for his arrest.

The Kyrgyz government of Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown when supporters of an opposition movement clashed with riot police in early April.

The interim government charged Bakiyev with murder and abuse of power April 27. Opposition leader and interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva in a decree stated that Bakiyev had allowed civilians to be killed during the April riots and "and thus deprived himself of the status of ex-president and of immunity," Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti reports.

Kyrgyzstan gained independence in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Kyrgyzstan's official news agency Kabar said Monday that the interim government was offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of Bakiyev and other top government officials.

Bakiyev is taking shelter in Belarus and has refused to resign. The interim government said it would have a constitutional referendum June 27 and parliamentary elections Oct. 10.