ALMATY — The United States said on Saturday it had asked Britain to extradite the arrested son of Kyrgyzstan's fugitive ex-president on fraud charges. The Kyrgyz president's office said Maxim Bakiyev, son of the country's former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, had been arrested in London on Friday at the request of Kyrgyzstan and the United States. British police said the 34-year-old Bakiyev had been arrested by extradition officers on the request of US authorities, who want to question him for alleged involvement in fraud. He had voluntarily visited a police station in central London by appointment. “The United States has requested the extradition of Mr. Bakiyev from the United Kingdom to face trial in US federal court on serious charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and obstruction of justice,” the US embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek said in a statement (bishkek.usembassy.gov). “If convicted, Mr. Bakiyev could face a lengthy prison sentence.” Ex-president Bakiyev was given shelter by Belarus after crowds of protesters seized his government headquarters in an April 2010 revolt in which about 90 people were killed when security forces opened fire on opposition supporters. Belarus, run by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, has repeatedly rejected Kyrgyzstan's requests to extradite the former president, who is accused at home of “mass killings” of protesters during the coup. — Reuters
