TARAZ, Kazakhstan -- A court in the southern Kazakh city of Taraz has convicted and handed out long prison sentences to five men in connection with a deadly November suicide blast that was the country's worst terrorist attack in years.
At an in camera trial, judges sentenced Bakhytzhan Zhapparov, whom prosecutors described as the "organizer, creator, and leader of the terrorist group," to life in prison.
Zhapparov and his accomplices were found guilty of motivating suspected Muslim extremist Maskat Kariyev to carry out the November 12 attack, in which he robbed a weapons store and shot dead two civilians and five policemen before using a hand grenade to kill himself.
RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports that the four other men were convicted to prison sentences ranging from 25 to five years.
At an in camera trial, judges sentenced Bakhytzhan Zhapparov, whom prosecutors described as the "organizer, creator, and leader of the terrorist group," to life in prison.
Zhapparov and his accomplices were found guilty of motivating suspected Muslim extremist Maskat Kariyev to carry out the November 12 attack, in which he robbed a weapons store and shot dead two civilians and five policemen before using a hand grenade to kill himself.
RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports that the four other men were convicted to prison sentences ranging from 25 to five years.