BISHKEK (TCA) — Former Prime Minister Sapar Isakov on August 16 was transferred from a pretrial detention center in Bishkek, where he has been held since June 2018 on corruption charges, to a Bishkek hospital with stroke symptoms.
The 42-year-old Isakov, considered a close associate of former President Almazbek Atambayev, was moved to the Neurology Department of the National Hospital in Bishkek, 24.kg news agency reported with reference to the Kyrgyz Health Ministry press center.
The ministry said late on August 16 that Isakov’s condition was “relatively satisfactory” and he had no stroke.
The State Committee of National Security earlier in the day said that Isakov had been hospitalized with a spinal artery syndrome.
Isakov’s arrest in 2018 was seen as one of the first signs of a rift between President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and his predecessor, Atambayev, who backed Jeenbekov in an October 2017 presidential election, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reported.
The charges against Isakov include alleged illegal lobbying for the interests of a Chinese company in the selection process of a contractor for the modernization of the Bishkek Thermal Power Station and abuse of office during reconstruction of the National History Museum.
Atambayev was arrested on August 8 after he surrendered to police following a violent two days of resistance.
