Bishkek newspaper Litsa quoted Kadyrjan Batyrov of the national parliament as saying that the president's brother Akhmat Bakiyev is a patron of A. Mirsidikov, a notable criminal also known as Black Aibek.

According to the lawmaker, Black Aibek was serving his time in a maximum security colony when he was suddenly transferred to the detention cell of the Osh Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs. From there he was transferred to the Jalalabad Psychoneurologic Dispensary and finally to the Urological Hospital. Sentenced to 11 years behind the bars, the kingpin is at large again. "All of Jalalabad knows that it was Akhmat Bakiyev who orchestrated his [Mirsidikov's] release," Batyrov told Litsa.

Batyrov said that Mirsidikov, a resident of the same mahallja [city block] where he himself was brought up, "grew up in a family where nobody had ever worked." "They all earned their living by crime. Mirsidikov himself committed a great deal of crimes, and got away with it every time. His brothers were killed in mob wars - one in Moscow and the other in Jalalabad," Batyrov said.

Black Aibek was arrested for assault and battery of a police officer but nobody would testify against Mirsidikov even then. Batyrov himself was compelled to intercede, and Mirsidikov was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.

Akhmat is one of the five brothers of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev elevated to the pinnacle of political power in Kyrgyzstan when Askar Akayev was dethroned on March 24, 2005. It is only known that Akhmat took an active part in the March events in Jalalabad that escalated into the so called Kyrgyz people's revolution. Akhmat does not hold any official position in Jalalabad but wields a great deal of clout all the same.

Batyrov is a successful business tycoon and one of the leaders of the Uzbek community in southern Kyrgyzstan. Litsa quoted the lawmaker as saying that Akhmat Bakiyev is "the governor, the mayor, prosecutor, and top cop in Jalalabad. In short, he is the khan." "Bakiyev cooked up charges against me but they didn't stick. He wanted me locked up and it did not work," Batyrov said. He is convinced that Mirsidikov's release from imprisonment was orchestrated so as to sic him on Batyrov.

The lawmaker attributes this campaign against him to the fact that he bested Jusup Bakiyev, president's another brother, in the first round of the parliamentary election last year. "Kurmanbek Saliyevich took it in stride, but not Akhmad Bakiyev," Batyrov explained.

The Kyrgyz prosecutor's office put Mirsidikov's name on the list of wanted criminals on May 22, 2006. Internal security of the Jalalabad Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs is investigating details of his escape. "The officials who made Mirsidikov's escape possible are under investigation," Kyrgyz newspaper Delo No reported on May 31, 2006. Batyrov in the meantime believes that the authorities are but going through motions and that nobody is really looking for Mirsidikov.