Kyrgyzstan Blasts Belarus for 'Hiding' Former Ruling Family after Murder

Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev assailed Belarus on Thursday for sheltering members of the Central Asian republic's former ruling family, following the reported murder of a prominent gangland figure in Minsk earlier this month.

Atambayev claimed the February 18 discovery of Kyrgyz-born gangster Almanbet Anapiyaev's corpse was "without doubt" the consequence of a "criminal showdown" in the Belarussian capital, allegedly involving the brother Kyrgyzstan's former authoritarian president Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Belarussian police discovered the lifeless male body believed to be Anapiyaev riddled with stab wounds in the boot of a Mercedes in the Belarussian capital Minsk.

Investigators say a relative of Anapiyaev has since provided positive identification of the corpse.

The grim discovery was made just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France's Francois Hollande and Russian strongman Vladimir Putin traveled to Minsk to broker a peace deal for Ukraine.

In a strongly-worded statement, Atambayev said he hoped Anapiyaev's murder would persuade Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko that he "had provided shelter to beasts."

"The Bakiyev brothers are remembered as monsters in Kyrgyzstan," he said.

"The people remember how these beasts burned people alive, how they maimed and killed journalists, how they broke the arms and legs of businessmen, how they cut the ears and noses off their victims."

He did not provide any evidence of Janysh Bakiyev's involvement in the killing.

Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly demanded that Belarus return both Kurmanbek Bakiyev and older brother Janysh since their family fled Kyrgyzstan after a bloody revolution in 2010. They are wanted for the murder of more than 80 protesters.

Atambayev's statement signals renewed tensions between the two ex-Soviet states, which will share membership of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union when Kyrgyzstan completes accession to the bloc in May.

In 2012, when Kyrgyzstan formally demanded that Belarus extradite Janysh Bakiyev, Belarussian authorities denied he was living in the country, leading to the storming of the Belarussian embassy in Bishkek by Kyrgyz protesters.

Anapiyaev was blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2012 as a "close associate" of Kyrgyzstan's Kamchibek Kolbayev, who became a target of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act on June 1, 2011.

The U.S. government believes Kolbayev is a key player in the lucrative Eurasian heroin trade.