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UPDATE: Former Kyrgyz prime minister released from jail

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MOSCOW, September 14 (RIA Novosti) - Former Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nikolai Tanayev has been released from jail and placed under house arrest in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, Tanayev's defense lawyer said by phone Wednesday.

Tanayev was re-arrested September 6 when he allegedly tried to leave the country for neighboring Kazakhstan despite the condition of restricted travel attached to his first release, with members of parliament volunteering to act as his sureties, the Prosecutor General's Office said.

In a statement circulated by his lawyer on September 9, the defendant denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had received verbal permission from Kyrgyz authorities to travel abroad and that his visit to Kazakhstan was to have been a one-day business trip.

Tanayev said he had been traveling "openly," in "broad daylight," and that his re-arrest had been a well-orchestrated act to create a high-profile case and, ultimately, a court trial.

The ex-premier said he had always been cooperative with the investigating team. "All my activities were aimed at developing Kyrgyzstan's economy, and I cannot figure out why I should be held responsible for just that," he said. He petitioned the Kyrgyz president to set up a government commission to verify the facts in his statement.

On May 30, the Prosecutor General's Office issued a warrant for Tanayev's arrest on charges of abuse of office and applied for an international warrant, but Interpol refused to issue it.

The former Kyrgyz prime minister was charged with arranging a government decree ordering $1 million to be transferred from a state-run employment assistance foundation to the bank account of a building firm owned by his son.

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