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Monday, 27 February 2006
KAZAKH INTERIOR MINISTER SAYS SENATE ADMINISTRATION HEAD ORDERED KILLING OF OPPOSITION LEADER
By empty (2/27/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Interior Minister Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov announced at a briefing in Astana on 27 February that Erzhan Utembaev, head of the administration of the Senate, ordered the killing of opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev out of \"personal enmity.\" Utembaev has been arrested in connection with the killing of Sarsenbaev, whose body was discovered on 13 February. Mukhamedzhanov said that the kidnapping and actual killing was carried out by five rogue members of the National Security Committee\'s Arystan special-forces unit and that Rustam Ibragimov, a former law-enforcement officer, oversaw the whole operation, which included the killing of Sarsenbaev\'s bodyguard and his driver.
Interior Minister Baurzhan Mukhamedzhanov announced at a briefing in Astana on 27 February that Erzhan Utembaev, head of the administration of the Senate, ordered the killing of opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev out of \"personal enmity.\" Utembaev has been arrested in connection with the killing of Sarsenbaev, whose body was discovered on 13 February. Mukhamedzhanov said that the kidnapping and actual killing was carried out by five rogue members of the National Security Committee\'s Arystan special-forces unit and that Rustam Ibragimov, a former law-enforcement officer, oversaw the whole operation, which included the killing of Sarsenbaev\'s bodyguard and his driver. Mukhamedzhanov said that Utembaev took out a $60,000 loan from a bank to pay for the killing. All of the suspects are in custody and, according to Mukhamedzhanov, are testifying to their involvement in the crime. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)