BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Extradition to Kyrgyzstan of the son of the Kyrgyz president ousted in a 2010 coup is "hardly probable," a former minister said.
Maxim Bakiyev, son of ousted President Kurmanbeck Bakiyev, was arrested last week in London by Scotland Yard authorities acting on an extradition request from the United States. The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London said he was arrested on a warrant issued for his alleged involvement in legal conspiracy between 2010 and 2012.
Edil Baisalov, a Kyrgyz activist and former social development minister, told the country's 24.kg news agency that the public should mobilize so that U.S. courts can investigate whether the "hundreds of millions of dollars" Bakiyev made in the United States were done so through criminal means.
Bakiyev appeared voluntarily at a police station in London last week to face arrest. The activist said it was unlikely the leader would be sent home to face the justice system there, however.
"We have to be realistic and understand that extradition of Maxim Bakiyev to Kyrgyzstan in the coming years is hardly probable," he said.
Hundreds of people were killed in the violence that followed Bakiyev's ouster in 2010. Supporters of the current opposition have staged political protests in recent weeks.
