"We cannot permit another state's servicemen, who are in Kyrgyzstan to fulfill their mission in Afghanistan, to commit actions as a result of which our citizens die, and to avoid being brought to account," Bakiyev told national television.
Alexander Ivanov, 42, a driver with the fuel services company Aircraft Petroleum Management and a father of two, was shot dead December 6 by an airman identified by Kyrgyz investigators as Zachary Hatfield while undergoing a routine security check at the Manas airbase.
Bakiyev called the killing a tragedy, and said he set the government the task to strip U.S. servicemen of immunity.
"Unfortunately, an agreement between the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan gives broad rights to the American military contingent. They have, in fact, a status equal to a diplomatic one. I will say openly -- I set [the government] the task of annulling that status. If they [servicemen] commit some crime, the U.S. military should be responsible, in line with our laws," he said.
Kyrgyzstan's parliament passed a resolution Friday instructing the government to consider closing the U.S. airbase in the Central Asian country's capital, Bishkek.
Manas is the only U.S. base in post-Soviet Central Asia since Uzbekistan evicted American troops from its territory last year. Kyrgyzstan recently raised the leasing fee for the Manas base from the current $2.6 million to $150 million as of 2007.
The command of the airbase, which the United States has maintained in Kyrgyzstan since its anti-terrorism campaign in neighboring Afghanistan began in 2001, said earlier the U.S. airman who killed the Kyrgyz national acted in self-defense and in accordance with security instructions, a claim disputed by Ivanov's colleagues.
President Bakiyev has asked the U.S. to ensure that the serviceman accused of the killing remains in the country until the end of the probe being conducted by U.S. officials and Kyrgyz prosecutors. The Foreign Ministry has also pressed for his immunity to be lifted.
