Once-jailed populist Japarov sworn in as Kyrgyz president January 27, 2021 at 09:43PM

Populist Sadyr Japarov, 52, was serving jail time on hostage-taking charges before being freed during a political crisis over a parliamentary vote in October, beginning a dizzying rise to the top job. He won a January 10 presidential election by landslide with close to 80 percent of the vote.