Kazakh Supreme Court Weighs Sarsenbaev Appeal

Supporters mourn Altynbek Sarsenbaev in Almaty in February (RFE/RL)

December 7, 2006 -- The criminal chamber of Kazakhstan's Supreme Court has started deliberating on an appeal filed by 10 former security officers and state officials convicted of the murder of opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev.

The Kazakhstan Today news agency quoted presiding Judge Abdrashid Zhukenov as saying the panel would make its decision public on December 8.

On August 30, a regional court in Taldy-Qorgan found former security officer Rustam Ibragimov guilty of killing Sarsenbaev and two of his aides and sentenced him to death.

It also sentenced Ibragimov's nine co-defendants to prison terms of between three and 20 years.

Ibragimov on December 6 claimed he resisted attempts made by Interior Minister Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov and Prosecutor-General Rashid Tusupbekov to have him accuse President Nursultan Nazarbaev's daughter Darigha and her husband, First Deputy Foreign Minister Rakhat Aliev, of commissioning the murder.

Ibragimov's lawyer also accused the prosecution of falsifying the results of the lie-detector tests that the U.S. FBI helped conduct on two of the defendants.

(Kazakhstan Today, Interfax-Kazakhstan)