Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Released After Detention

Tekebayev said he faces no further charges for organising the protest.

A Kyrgyz court on Monday released opposition politician Omerbek Tekebayev detained last Saturday and charged with organising an illegal protest.

"The court has issued a warning to me for trying to arrange an unsanctioned rally," Tekebayev, head of the opposition Ata Meken party, said by telephone from the northern Talas region where his party had been due to hold a conference.

Tekebayev said he faces no further charges for organising the protest.

Tekebayev, long at odds with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has sharpened his criticism of the authorities over past months and used difficult economic times, caused by a global financial crisis, to unite the opposition.

Kyrgyzstan has been volatile since 2005 when Bakiyev came to power after mass rallies toppled his long-serving predecessor. The opposition has said it may organise a fresh wave of protests urging Bakiyev to resign.

Any instability in Kyrgyzstan is a worry to Russia and the Unites States, which both operate military airbases in the strategically placed but impoverished Muslim nation.

Broader public criticism of Bakiyev's rule has been on the rise due to falling incomes and fears of economic stagnation, as well as electricity blackouts across the ex-Soviet nation caused by domestic energy shortages.