Will no one rid me of this troublesome lawmaker?

Ryspek Akmatbaev has been murdered, and I cannot help but wonder who it was who wanted so badly to be rid of him.

A reputed Kyrgyz criminal leader who has been at the center of controversy after topping the ballot in a recent parliamentary by-election has been shot dead.

Rysbek Akmatbaev’s attorney, Rysbek Nagaev, told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz service that Akmatbaev was gunned down in mid-afternoon as he was leaving a mosque near the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

Both the AP and RIA say that he was killed at a cafe, with the latter saying that he was killed by three unknown assailants. Stratfor adds that the assailants were masked and that they unloaded an entire Kalashnikov magazine into Akmatbaev.

AKIpress has a story in Russian.

UPDATE: Brian Ulrich has interesting questions about the murder

This post was written by...

Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.

Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.