U.S. airman must answer for shooting -Kyrgyz leader
07 Dec 2006 15:12:31 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds name of airman, paragraph 3, compensation, 9) By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Thursday U.S. servicemen and women stationed in his Central Asian state should no longer enjoy immunity from prosecution after the fatal shooting of a truck driver. Alexander Ivanov, a 42-year-old ethnic Russian who worked as a fuel truck driver, was shot and killed on Wednesday by a U.S. Air Force airman at a checkpoint leading to a U.S. airbase in the country's main civilian airport. Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry, in a statement written in the Cyrillic alphabet, identified the airman as Zachary Hatfield, although U.S. officials declined to confirm this. "It would be appropriate for military based in Kyrgyzstan to bear responsibility for any illegal acts they carry out, in accordance with Kyrgyzstan's laws," Bakiyev told U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, according to a statement from his office. Ivanov, a father of two, had no criminal record, Kyrgyz government officials said. He was killed by two pistol shots to the chest, police said. Troops at the base, set up in 2001 to support operations in nearby Afghanistan, enjoy a similar status to diplomats and cannot be prosecuted by Kyrgyz courts under an agreement between the two countries. A statement released by U.S. forces on Wednesday said the airman from the base's security forces "used deadly force in response to a threat". A military spokesman said on Thursday Ivanov threatened the airman with a homemade knife at the checkpoint after parking his truck. The airman fired his pistol in response. The Kyrgyz foreign ministry said in its statement Hatfield should be stripped of his immunity and that Kyrgyzstan reserved the right to demand "full" compensation, without specifying a sum. Bakiyev said Kyrgyz police should be allowed to question the airman and he should not leave the country until an investigation had taken place. In a separate security incident linked to the base in September, a U.S. Air Force major went missing for several days after a shopping trip in the nearby capital Bishkek. Major Jill Metzger reappeared unharmed. According to U.S. media, she said she had been kidnapped, although Kyrgyz police sources questioned the assertion and she was flown out of the country within hours of being found.
