MINSK, Belarus — Kyrgyzstan’s ousted president said from exile yesterday that he does not intend to return to his homeland as its leader, but that his resignation was invalid because officials there are reneging on a promise to protect his family.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev was deposed in an April 7 uprising that left 85 people dead in the Kyrgyz capital. He fled last week to neighboring Kazakhstan and arrived in the Belarusian capital earlier this week, where he is now staying. Bakiyev said his resignation, signed before he left Kyrgyzstan, was not in force because interim officials reneged on a promise to protect his relatives.
“I don’t intend to return to Kyrgyzstan as president,’’ he told reporters in Minsk, but added that “the other side has not fulfilled its conditions. They guaranteed the safety of my family, but my family is being persecuted, therefore I do not recognize my resignation.’’
While at his stronghold in the south of Kyrgyzstan, where he went in the heat of the uprising in Bishkek, Bakiyev said he was told by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that he would not be blamed for the violence of the revolt but would face justice if he tried to regroup and reclaim power militarily.
“There was the threat to me and my relatives and a threat of civil war,’’ Bakiyev said. Bakiyev said one of his brothers has been kidnapped and that authorities are seeking to prosecute other members of his extended family who have remained in Kyrgyzstan.
Some other members of Bakiyev’s close circle have fled to Kazakhstan, and authorities have voiced hope that Kazakh authorities would hand them over.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government accuses Bakiyev’s brother Zhanybek, the chief of the presidential guards, of issuing the order to fire at protesters in Bishkek.
Interim officials have set presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan for Oct. 10.
