The trial of the alleged killers of a prominent opposition leader opened recently in Kazakhstan with a declaration of innocence by the former top parliamentary official accused of ordering the murder.
"I categorically disagree with the charge brought," the Kazakhstan Today news agency quoted the defendant, Yerzhan Utembayev, as saying June 15.
Prosecutors allege that Utembayev, a former head of the Kazakhstani Senate staff, contracted opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbayev³s murder after the latter made unflattering revelations about him in the press. Sarsenbayev, his bodyguard and his driver were killed in February. The trial opened June 14 in the Almaty Regional Court in the city of Taldykorgan. Although he reportedly confessed to the crime in the early stages of the investigation, Utembayev's wife told journalists that he had subsequently retracted his confession and was not guilty.
One of Utembayev³s co-defendants, Rustam Ibragimov, backed him up in court on June 15, Kazakhstan Today reported. Ibragimov reportedly insisted that "Yerzhan Utembayev did not order the killing or beating" of Sarsenbayev. Ibragimov, along with a third defendant, Vitaliy Miroshnikov, are also denying the charges against them, Kazakhstan Today said.
In all, 10 people are standing trial for the brutal killings that sent shock waves through political circles in Kazakhstan. The bodies of Altynbek Sarsenbayev, Baurzhan Baybosyn and Vasiliy Zhuravlev were found in the foothills outside Kazakhstan³s economic capital, Almaty, on February 13. They had been shot execution-style; the hands of Baybosyn and Zhuravlev had been tied behind their backs. The murders sent waves of mutual recrimination washing over Kazakhstan, as opposing political forces tried to connect each other to the murder, and to politically profit from the tragedy.
Five members of a crack squad run by the security service were arrested on suspicion of committing the murder, prompting the resignation of the National Security Committee³s head, Nartay Dutbayev. The five troops from the elite Arystan unit "admitted their guilt partially" during June 15 court proceedings, the True Ak Zhol party said in a statement. The trial is expected to resume June 19.
Some local media outlets have cast doubt on the prosecution theory that a desire for revenge prompted Utembayev to conspire to kill Sarsenbayev, who at the time of his death was a co-leader of the True Ak Zhol Party. Public accusations of high-level involvement in the murder have been made in a spate of media mudslinging. President Nursultan Nazarbayev's eldest daughter, Dariga, has found herself in the spotlight in connection with the case. She issued a statement in March claiming that, prior to resigning, Dutbayev had told the president that a member of the presidential family was involved either Dariga's husband, Deputy Foreign Minister Rakhat Aliyev, another of the president³s sons-in-law, Timur Kulibayev, or his nephew, Kayrat Satypaldy.
Nazarbayeva³s statement prompted media speculation about her motives for pointing the finger at her relatives. Some outlets suggested that rifts were developing within the ruling family, especially one dividing Dariga from her father. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Just two months before the murder, President Nazarbayev secured re-election for a second seven-year term. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].Some observers speculated that the murder signaled an early start to the battle for succession. Meanwhile, opposition figures insisted that regardless of whoever committed the murder, the president should bear responsibility for creating a climate in which, they claimed, political killings had become acceptable. They pointed to the death of another opposition leader, Zamanbek Nurkadilov, at the height of the presidential campaign in November 2005; the opposition did not accept the official verdict of suicide for his death. Like Sarsenbayev, Nurkadilov was a former government official who had turned to the opposition. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Even before it opened, the trial was dogged by controversy over the venue. Relatives of the murder victims lobbied to have the trial held in Almaty. The Supreme Court ruled that the trial should be held in Taldykorgan, the capital of Almaty Region some four hours drive from the city of Almaty.
Sarsenbayev³s parents, both over 80, have appealed to the president over the venue. "We hoped we would be able to go to court and look in the eyes of those who committed this heinous crime," they wrote in an open letter to Nazarbayev that was posted on the Zonakz website on the first day of the trial. "For us in our current position, Taldykorgan might as well be the ends of the earth. The tragedy has sapped our physical and spiritual strength. We are not in a position to go there."
On June 15 the judge turned down a petition from a lawyer acting for Sarsenbayev³s widow, Saltanat Atusheva, to have the trial moved. "There is no basis to move to Almaty; all conditions are in place here," Judge Lukmat Merekenov was quoted as saying by Kazakhstan Today, though he added that the venue could be reviewed later.
Meanwhile, the True Ak Zhol party said in a press release that two of the accused had claimed they had come under pressure to request the trial be held in Taldykorgan. Relatives of the victims and members of the opposition say that holding the trial in Taldykorgan is aimed at lowering its profile and keeping it out of the public eye. However, the trial is politically charged and seems certain to keep making the headlines.
Joanna Lillis is a freelance writer who specializes in Central Asian affairs.
Joanna Lillis is a journalist based in Almaty and author of Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan.
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