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ROME, July 14 (AFP) - Italy on Friday released former Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin from detention, a day after he was arrested at a Rome airport following a request by Kazakhstan, the justice ministry announced. His arrest at Rome's Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci airport was based on an international arrest warrant issued by Kazakh authorities. The justice ministry said a Rome appeals court had officially sanctioned his detention on the basis of the international warrant. But the court then ordered his immediate release after a request by Justice Minister Piero Fassino. Kazhegeldin, who lives in exile in London, has been an outspoken critic of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev since a January 1999 election campaign, from which the head of the opposition Republican People's Party was barred. The justice ministry said Rome had not received a request for his extradition to Almaty. No extradition treaty exists between the two countries. He was free to go where he wanted, a spokeswoman for the ministry told AFP, adding: "There is a law in Italy which allows the minister to request a release on the basis of a political decision." Amirzhan Kosanov, the Kazakh Republican People's party's deputy head, earlier said the former premier was being held on terrorism charges after a request from the Kazakh authorities through Interpol. Kazhegeldin's supporters had called his arrest politically motivated. "For a year and a half, Kazakh special forces have conducted a veritable hunt for Akezhan Kazhegeldin," said Nurbulat Mosanov in the Kazakh capital Almaty, reading from a joint statement from democratic organizations. "Kazhegeldin is a symbol of the democratic opposition in Kazakhstan," he added. He quoted a letter from International League for Human Rights president Scott Horton to Italian Justice Minister Piero Fassino, which stated the arrest and request through Interpol "constitute serious violations of agreed international norms." "We are closely familiar with the efforts of the Kazakh government to persecute leaders of political opposition groups ... including Kazhegeldin," the letter read. It also stated that criminal and administrative charges brought by the Kazakh government against Kazhegeldin appeared to rest on "fabricated or bogus claims". Kazhegeldin's detention came after a graft probe, which Western news publications have claimed is being carried out by the US Justice Department, and which has implicated top Kazakh officials, including Nazarbayev. Kazhegeldin has criticized Nazarbayev's crackdown on the opposition and independent media in the former Soviet republic, and has called for further democratization. In September, he was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport by Russian security forces, and Kazakhstan called for his extradition on charges of tax fraud and embezzlement. He was released after promising to return to the central Asian republic to face charges, but supporters say he should remain abroad as they fear for his personal security. His arrest was potentially embarrassing for the Italian government due to its economic implications, according to Italian press reports. The Italian newspaper Il Giornale said Friday government officials in Rome were "extremely embarrassed" by the case, which the paper compared to the controversial arrest in Rome in late 1998 of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. The paper said supporters of the former premier and some Kazakh opposition members had accused the Italian government of backing Nazarbayev only to defend the interests of Italian oil giant Eni. Il Giornale said Eni had become the principal partner of the Kazakh regime, replacing the United States and France. |
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