Kyrgyzstan sentences ex-president, brother in absentia

A Kyrgyz military court on Tuesday sentenced in absentia former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev to 24 years in prison and his brother Janysh to life for crimes committed while they ruled the country from 2005-2010.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in a bloody 2010 uprising fuelled by his family's rampant corruption, was convicted of abuse of power by the Bishkek military garrison court.

His brother Janysh, the former head of the state bodyguard service under Bakiyev, was meanwhile convicted of multiple murder.

Both men fled to Belarus after the 2010 revolution and Minsk has so far refused requests from Bishkek's new rulers to extradite the pair.