Zhanybek Bakiyev, brother of the deposed Kyrgyz president and the former head of state security, has warned the opposition that any attempts to arrest Kurmanbek Bakiyev would be met with a harsh and merciless response.
The Bakiyev brothers, who fled the capital after the opposition took power in Kyrgyzstan last week, have holed up in the suburbs of Dzhalalabad in the south of the country. Some media sources earlier reported that the new Kyrgyz authorities had sent a special forces unit to apprehend the ousted president.
"He [Kurmanbek Bakiyev] is the legitimate president, nobody has relieved him from his duties, he did not resign, and we will protect him until the end," Zhanybek Bakiyev said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Sunday.
He said the president's supporters were ready to fight with the opposition, although he would not want to see his country embroiled in civil war.
"I think it would be wrong, it would be bloodshed, a civil war...If they [the opposition special forces] are wiling to test their skills, we are ready to meet them, to fight. But we are also ready for dialogue," Bakiyev's brother said.
Protests against Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his government began in the northwestern Kyrgyz town of Talas last Tuesday and spread to other regions of the country including the capital, Bishkek, on Wednesday and Thursday. At least 81 people died and more than 1,500 were injured in the unrest.
The interim government formed by the opposition have initiated criminal proceedings against Zhanybek Bakiyev and the president's two sons, Marat, and Maxim, on charges of illegal use of firearms and the killing of two or more people.
Zhanybek Bakiyev denied the charges saying his subordinates fired only at armed rioters who stormed the government buildings and attacked law enforcement officers.
"I ordered my men to open fire only on those who carried weapons. My conscience is clear. I radioed orders to shoot those who were running with weapons because they were shooting at us," he said.
"Shots were fired at the president's office and we were protecting him...If a person steps over the line, he becomes a target; everyone knows this very well," Bakiyev said, adding that he was willing to face a fair investigation by an independent international commission.
Meanwhile, the ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev urged the United Nations on Sunday to send its peacekeepers to the Central Asian republic to prevent the escalation of the uprising into a civil war.
The Kyrgyz armed forces, police and security services have now sided with the opposition. Bakiyev still has support in the country's south, his traditional stronghold.
DZHALALABAD, April 12 (RIA Novosti)
