Dictator and general not to be extradited

According to Belarusian Prosecutor General Vasilevich, there are no legal grounds for extradition of Kurmanbek Bakiyev to Kyrgyzstan and Uladzimir Uskhopchyk to Lithuania.

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus made a decision not to extradite former president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev to his home country, as it didn’t find any legal grounds for this, Prosecutor General of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich told at a press conference in Minsk on Wednesday.

“We didn’t find any legal grounds meet the request of the Kyrgyz party on extradition of Bakiyev,” Interfax news agency quotes Vasilevich.

Belarus also doesn’t see legal grounds for extradition of General Uladzimir Uskhopchyk to Lithuania. Under our Constitution, we cannot extradite a citizen of the republic to another state,” Vasilevich said.

As we have reported earlier, General Uskhopchyk headed the Vilnius Garrison during the events on January 13, 1991. He also was a deputy minister of defense of Belarus.