Departures of note

Bayaman Erkinbayev, a top Kyrgyzstani lawmaker and one of the country's richest businessmen, was the driving force behind the March 2005 riots in southern Kyrgyzstan that led to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev. Around 2,000 of his martial-arts trainees moved across the southern cities of Jalal-Abad, Osh, and Batken, capturing government sites, burning down police stations, and blocking key highways. The protests later spread to the capital, Bishkek, and ousted Akayev on March 24. Erkinbayev financed the protests and sent his trainees to lead demonstrations, gaining widespread support.

Starting out as a worker at a tobacco factory in his hometown of Osh, Erkinbayev made his fame as a wrestler and served in parliament for a decade. He owned Kara Suu, Central Asia's largest bazaar, and funded the Socialist Party. He was a devotee of Alysh, Kyrgyzstan's answer to kung fu, and headed the country's National Olympic Committee. After the revolution, some 20,000 people gathered in Osh's main square to celebrate the regime's fall, and he was lauded as a hero. He was reported to exercise strong influence over small businesses in the Osh region and was widely rumoured to be associated with the criminal world.

Erkinbayev survived an assassination attempt on April 28, 2005, when he was shot at from a car and sported a bandage over his nose. He believed the motive was political but also felt it could have been an attempt to wrestle control of his business empire. On September 22, 2005, he sustained bullet wounds to his neck and chest when attacked by unidentified assailants from behind some bushes after arriving home by car late that day. He died in hospital, aged 38.