Kyrgyzstan instability looms as five PMs jailed

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: For prime ministers in Kyrgyzstan, a poor and mountainous republic in Central Asia, the job description invites the very real prospect of jail.

Djoomart Otorbayev, 66, last week became the fifth former premier to be detained on corruption-related charges since January, when the ex-Soviet country overwhelmingly elected a new president, Sadyr Japarov.

The arrests spotlight concerns about fresh instability in the impoverished republic of 6.5 million ahead of parliamentary elections in November. Three of the last four presidents were ousted in protests, in 2005, in 2010 and in 2020.