The boyfriend of the niece of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has been arrested on suspicion of manufacturing illegal drugs, two weeks after a controversy over his use of a rented government helicopter to propose marriage.
“We confirm that the boyfriend of the daughter of President Sadyr Japarov’s younger brother was detained by law enforcement agencies,” presidential spokesman Askat Alagozov said on Facebook on Wednesday. He said there is “every reason to believe” that the man, Aftandil Sabyrbekov, wanted to hide “his illegal activities” by developing relationships with people who could protect him from the law.
Alagozov stressed that the president won’t hide illegal conduct. The spokesman did not specify the alleged crimes of the fiancé of Lazat Nurkozhoeva “and his accomplices,” but several media organizations in Kyrgyzstan reported that a district court in Bishkek ordered Sabyrbekov to be placed in pretrial detention until Aug. 3.
Sabyrbekov is suspected of the “Illegal production of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their alternatives for the purpose of sale in large quantities,” the Kloop outlet reported. It said he could face between 12 and 15 years in prison if convicted.
Last month, Sabyrbekov asked Nurkozhoeva, a former beauty queen, to marry him after the pair traveled by helicopter to the mountains near Bishkek. The helicopter belonged to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a revelation that prompted scorn on social networks and drew an apology from Japarov, who has campaigned against corruption.
The ministry said the aircraft was “legally leased” and Japarov said the government sometimes rents its helicopters for the benefit of the state’s coffers. But the ostentatious use of the government asset, flaunted in a slick video showing Japarov’s niece in the helicopter, was over the top for some critics.
It wasn’t true love after all, the presidential spokesman, Alagozov, appeared to suggest. At the end of his Facebook message, he referred to Sabyrbekov as the “ex-boyfriend,” indicating that the romance with the president’s niece was over.
