ASTANA -- The former chief of Kazakhstan’s Border Guard Service has been sentenced to 11 years in prison in a high-profile corruption case.
A military court in Astana also ruled on March 6 that Nurlan Zholamanov must be deprived of his military rank and state award.
It also ordered Zholamanov’s property to be confiscated.
The former major general went on trial on January 26.
He was arrested in October and charged with bribe taking and "setting up an organized criminal group."
Zholamanov rejected the charges as "fabricated."
Codefendant Qairat Balmaghambetov, a former military commander, was released from custody. He had pleaded guilty.
Several former Kazakh officials have faced prosecution on suspicion of graft in the last two years, and some have been sentenced to long prison terms.