BISHKEK, March 6 - RAPSI. A brother of former Kyrgyzstan president, who was sentenced to seven years in jail last year for organizing mass riots in summer 2010, escaped from jail, a source in the Kyrgyz state penitentiary service told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

Akhmat Bakiyev was found guilty late August of organizing mass riots, inciting interethnic hatred, extortion and fraud. The prosecution initially charged him on eight counts.

Bakiyev was sentenced to seven years in a maximum security prison. However, he was moved to a penal settlement on January 4, 2012.

"In January Akhmat Bakiyev was taken to a hospital in Bishkek as he got sick with pneumonia. He was expected to return to the settlement on March 3 but did not do that," the source said.

Thereby, the police consider he escaped from detention.

A mass riot in April 2010 in Kyrgyzstan resulted in the state overthrow and the downfall of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev who, in turn, rose to power by overthrowing president Askar Akayev in 2005.

Following the April coup the country sank into a series of mass riots which turned into a bloodshed interethnic clash between the Kyrgyz population and the Uzbeks who inhabit the southern part of Kyrgyzstan. The new authorities put the blame on supporters of former president Bakiyev.