BISHKEK, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said Wednesday that law enforcement agencies' efforts to restore order in Kyrgyzstan's penitentiaries after a series of riots had been "absolutely correct."
Bakiyev told a news conference: "The law enforcement agencies acted absolutely correctly on November 1. I cannot permit armed criminals to command prisons."
"Those who break the law will be punished under the law. I guarantee this as president," he said. "Those people who want to speak with authorities in the language of weapons will not succeed. This will only result in victims."
Tuesday's riots were an attempt by some forces to destabilize the political situation in the country in a bid to oust the president and seize power in the republic, Bakiyev said, adding that the situation was now completely under the control of the president and the government.
Prison wardens had already been removed from inside the country's penal colonies to guard perimeters after a parliamentary inspection group was attacked in one colony on October 20. Three men were then killed, and the head of the republic's penitentiary service died later in hospital.
Deputy Justice Minister Sergei Zubov said that crime boss Aziz Batukayev had ordered Tuesday's riots, which erupted in at least seven high-security penitentiaries and detention centers.
"Riots and uprisings took place at virtually all [penal] colonies and detention facilities," he said, adding that they were carried out under the orders of Batukayev, who had issued them by phone when police were preparing to storm the Moldovanka penal colony N13, 12 miles north of Bishkek, to transfer him to a detention center in the capital.
