Kyrgyzstan Again Tries Toppled Leader's Son In Absentia

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

A court in Kyrgyzstan has opened a new trial in absentia of former President Kurmanbek Bakiev's son Maksim.

Bakiev and two former associates, Mikhail Nadel and Yevgeny Gurevich, are charged with financial misdeeds and fraud.

They are accused of misappropriating money from state social funds through illegal banking operations during Kurmanbek Bakiev's presidency.

Maksim Bakiev fled Kyrgyzstan after his father was toppled in 2010, and lives in London.

He has been already sentenced in absentia to 25 years in jail for corruption.

Nadel, a Russian citizen, has been sentenced in absentia to 16 years in jail by a court in Kyrgyzstan. His whereabouts are unknown.

In June, a federal court in New York sentenced U.S. citizen Gurevich to 63 months in jail for financial fraud.

He has also been sentenced to 15 years in absentia in Kyrgyzstan.