BISHKEK. May 30 (Interfax-AVN) - A U.S. national working on the Manas airbase in Kyrgyzstan has been detained in Bishkek.
Max Chounlamany, a U.S. national living in Bishkek and under contract to work at the Manas airbase, was detained at the decision of the Leninsky district court in Bishkek and sent to the Bishkek pre-trial detention center, the U.S. embassy in to Kyrgyzstan told Interfax on Friday. He is charged with the destruction or damage of property by negligence (Article 176 of the Kyrgyz Criminal Code), the embassy said.
Chounlamany will stay at the pre-trial detention center until the investigation of his criminal case is over, the embassy said.
The detainee is a civil employee of the airbase, and he is not a subject to diplomatic immunity unlike the servicemen at the base, the embassy added.
According to local media organizations, owners of an apartment rented by Chounlamany claim that a fire erupted at the flat, which could have probably been caused by an open source of fire. The U.S. national claimed that the fire broke out because of a short circuit; however, experts refuted his assertions and said the apartment needs an overhaul.
The owners of the flat were going to demand that Chounlamany repays the damage in the amount of about two million som ($1/36.31 som); however, neither the U.S. national, nor the U.S. embassy replied them. That is why they turned to law enforcement agencies, local media reports.