Bishkek - Kyrgyzstan's state penitentiary service has confirmed reports that former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev's brother Akhmat has escaped from prison.
Akhmat Bakiyev disappeared from a hospital where he was taken with pneumonia on March 3, the state penitentiary service told Interfax.
"Efforts are being made to find and arrest the escapee," it said.
Bakiyev got 7.5 years in jail in 2011 on charges of organizing mass unrest in southern Kyrgyzstan in May and June 2010. He was serving his term in a prison settlement.
