Defendant In Kazakh Political Killing Retracts Confession

A memorial service for Sarsenbaev in Almaty in February (RFE/RL)

June 29, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- A key defendant in the two-week-old trial of the suspected killers of Kazakh opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev today retracted his confession of guilt, saying he had nothing to do with organizing the assassination, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported.

The defendant, Yerzhan Utembaev, is the former head of the Kazakh Senate's secretariat. He says his previous admission of guilt was made under severe mental stress.

Prosecutors have suggested that Utembaev held a personal grudge against Sarsenbaev that motivated the killings.

One day earlier, Rustam Ibragimov, a former police officer who prosecutors believe killed Sarsenbaev, told the court in Taldy-Qorgan that the charges brought against him were fabricated.

He also told the court that Utembaev had asked him to take Sarsenbaev and his two companions to a meeting, where unidentified individuals then took them away.

Sarsenbaev, his bodyguard, and his driver were killed in February in what relatives say was a political murder. Sarsenbaev's supporters say they believe senior government officials are behind the killings.

Utembaev and all nine other defendants were all said by authorities to have confessed to roles in the killings.

(with material from Interfax-Kazakhstan)