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Ex-Kyrgyz president's daughter questioned over riots

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BISHKEK, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyz police are questioning the ex-president's daughter over civil unrest this week, sparked by a court's decision to strip her of the right to run for parliament, her counsel said Saturday.

She said Bermet Akayeva's supporters have been gathering near the police precinct for over an hour while the questioning continues, fearing she might be arrested. The police have also called in reinforcements, she added.

The Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan rejected Friday an appeal against a lower court ruling, conclusively barring Bermet, 35, from running in a by-election for parliament slated for Sunday.

Two of her 14 rivals for the parliamentary seat, that her brother Aidar had been stripped following repeated failures to turn up for sessions, complained that she had not resided in Kyrgyzstan for at least six months before the election, as required by law. In response, Bermet's supporters broke windows in the courthouse and tried to intimidate the judges.

The case was taken up by the Supreme Court after the judge who handled the case claimed his previous decision in her favor had been made under duress. Ringleaders behind the uproar face up to eight years in prison.

Bermet's father, former president Askar Akayev ousted in the March 2005 "tulip revolution" called the ruling unconstitutional and unlawful.

Before March 2005, Bermet had headed the pro-government Alga Kyrgyzstan party and made it into parliament but was stripped of her seat.

Akayev fled to Russia. Aidar followed his father into exile. Bermet wrote a book, "Flowers of Evil," about the uprising. Kyrgyz security services have launched a case against her and her mother, Mairam Akayev, who headed a charity foundation allegedly used as a channel for illegal money transactions.

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