Bishkek, 8 January 1997 (RFE/RL) -- Our correspondent in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek reports that the city's municipal court today sentenced prominent opposition politician Topchubek TurgunAliyev to 10 years' imprisonment with the confiscation of all his property.
The former deputy director of Bishkek's Humanitarian University, Timur Stamkulov, was sentenced to six years of prison with no property confiscation.
Both men were convicted of embezzling money from the university. Their defense lawyers in the closely-watched trial had argued that the whole proceedings were politically motivated.