BISHKEK. Feb 12 (Interfax) - The Kyrgyz Supreme Court has overturned the sentences of and released opposition activists Bektur Asanov and Kubanychbek Kadyrov, who were convicted of attempting to seize power violently in 2016, the court's press service told Interfax on Tuesday.
According to the press service, the Supreme Court's judicial panel for criminal and administrative cases, after considering applications from the convicts regarding new circumstances, set the term of imprisonment at four years and nine months.
"The judicial panel ruled to release Asanov and Kadyrov from custody due to their having served their sentences. The applications of convicts Asanov and Kadyrov and the petition of the establishment [Penal Colony] No. 27 were upheld," the press service said.
Asanov and Kadyrov were sentenced on charges of plotting a coup, but the new version of the Criminal Code mitigates the penalty for that crime, including retroactively, so earlier sentences can be overturned, according to the press service.
The Kyrgyz National Security Committee detained the two men in spring and summer 2016.
According to investigators, Asanov and Kadyrov, the leaders of the National Liberation Movement, were planning to organize a kurultai (big gathering) in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan to demand the resignation of the country's leaders. Audio recordings of their conversations about the planned coup, which would involve violence and mass riots, appeared on the Internet. Both men said the recordings were falsified. The Kyrgyz Security Service confirmed their authenticity.
Bishkek's Pervomaisky District Court sentenced the two to 12 years in a maximum-security penal colony.
Another opposition activist, Ernest Karybekov, was found guilty of concealing an especially grave crime and high treason and jailed for 18 years with confiscation of property.
In 2010-2011, Asanov was the governor of the Jalalabad region in southern Kyrgyzstan. In 2009-2010, he was ambassador to Pakistan.
In 2008-2010, Kadyrov was a member of the Kyrgyz parliament. In 2010, he served as deputy interior minister.