Austria Court Acquits Late Kazakh Presidential Son-In-Law's Associates

Two associates of Rakhat Aliev, the deceased ex-son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, have been acquitted of double murder.

Former Kazakh intelligence chief Alnur Musaev and ex-presidential bodyguard Vadim Koshlyak walked free from a Vienna court on July 11.

The two went on trial in April.

Prosecutors said Aliev, Koshlyak, and Musaev were involved in the kidnapping, torturing, and killing of two Almaty-based Nurbank managers in 2007.

Aliev, the main suspect, was found hanged in a Vienna prison in February.

Aliev, who left Kazakhstan in 2007, was sacked from his post as Kazakh ambassador to Austria and sentenced in absentia to 40 years in prison for organized crime and an attempted coup.

He said the case against him was politically motivated.

Based on reporting by Reuters and independent.com.mt