The son of Kyrgyzstan’s toppled president has won temporary asylum in the U.K., Britain’s Press Association reported on Friday.
The news agency quoted London—based law firm Carter Ruck as saying that 33—year—old Maxim Bakiyev had been temporarily allowed entry into Britain. The law firm did not return repeated calls seeking confirmation on Friday while Britain’s Home Office, responsible for asylum and immigration matters, said it could not immediately comment.
Bakiyev’s father Kurmanbek was overthrown in April following violent street protests fed by anger over corruption in his inner circle. The former Soviet republic has since been rocked by ethnic unrest, which the president’s successors have pinned on Mr. Kurmanbek and his associates.
Both the ex—president and his son deny the charge. PA quoted a statement from Maxim in which he claimed officials in the new government were blaming him for the violence rocking the Central Asian country in a bid to “divert attention from their own crimes.”
“Clearly they seek to try to make me a scapegoat for the chaos in the country,” the statement said. “I view events in my homeland with horror.”
