Murder Verdict May Just Raise More Questions

The trial for the murder of a prominent opposition leader is likely to end this week in a harsh sentence, in order to appease the public in this sensational case. But many questions remain unanswered, and analysts blame a sloppy investigation and hasty conclusion of the case for this.



A court in Taldy-Korgan will announce its verdict on August 31 in the case of the murder of Altynbek Sarsenbaev, a prominent opposition leader who was gunned down together with his driver and bodyguard in February 2006. The murder, which came of the heels of December’s presidential election, made waves both within the country and abroad.



The investigation led to charges against high-level official Erjan Utembaev, chief of staff of the parliamentary Senate administration, and Rustam Ibragimov, a former law-enforcement officer. They are on trial along with eight other defendants, all of whom are members of an elite security force called Arystan.



The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty for Utembaev and Ibragimov, and sentences ranging from seven to 20 years for the rest.



Kazakstan has had a moratorium on capital punishment since December 2003, which means that even if death sentences were handed down to the two chief defendants, this would be commuted to life imprisonment.



Relatives of the late Sarsenbaev have described the trial as a farce, maintaining that the real people behind the murder are members of the ruling elite whose identity has never been established. They insist it is sacrilege to demand the death penalty when there is no absolute proof of guilt.



A section of the public agrees with them. Analysts suggest that the negative public reaction to the case is a result of the over-hasty manner in which proceedings were wrapped up, in spite of numerous pleas from defendants for the investigation to be continued. Such haste has many wondering whether officials were unwilling to allow the possibility that other names might come to light.



On August 2, Ibragimov caused a sensation by accusing Senate Speaker Nurtai Abykaev, former National Security Committee chiev Nartai Dutbaev and former official for religious affairs Aleksei Kikshaev of arranging the murder as part of a political coup plot.



According to observers, the investigation did not satisfy the public, which had raised serious questions based on Ibragimov’s accusations. For this reason, say experts, even the harshest sentence is unlikely to bring closure to the case.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)