One of ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's sons has received temporary political asylum in Great Britain, a source close to the family told RIA Novosti on Friday.
Maxim Bakiyev, the second son of ousted Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was detained on Monday by the U.K. Border Agency after landing at Farnborough airport in southern England in a rented private jet. He has been charged with money laundering and was on the Interpol wanted list.
"Maxim has indeed received temporary political asylum from British authorities," the source said, adding: "It's difficult for me to say how that looks from a legal point of view, but it is clear to us that British authorities are not ready to react to the emotional statements made by the interim Kyrgyz authorities."
The source said that a decision to grant Maxim Bakiyev permanent political asylum is possible after the entire circumstances of events become clear.
The Kyrgyz Prosecutor's General's Office suspects Maxim Bakiyev of embezzling millions of dollars of a loan from Russia. According to prosecutors he had placed $35 million of a $300 million loan from Russia into his private bank accounts while in office.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who took refuge in Belarus after being ousted as a result of mass riots in April, told a news conference in Minsk on Monday that the accusations against him and his family were "groundless."
At least 191 people died and thousands were injured in clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in southern Kyrgyzstan. The unrest broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region.
MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti)
