Sadyr Japrov is considered the front-runner in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election on January 10. A little more than three months ago, he was in prison. He said charges that he took part in an attempted hostage-taking scheme were politically motivated. He was freed during unrest surrounding annulled parliamentary elections in October. We look at the up-and-down career of this populist politician.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.