ASTANA -- A former deputy commander of the Kazakh Air Force, General Asqar Buldeshev, has been sentenced to 8 1/2 years in prison for abuse of office.
The Aqmola Garrison Military Court found Buldeshev guilty on December 5 and sentenced him the same day.
His co-defendant, businessman Talghat Zhumakhanov, received a six-year prison term for embezzlement.
Both defendants had pleaded not guilty. Buldeshev was arrested in April and charged with fraudulent activities related to the repair of air force equipment.
In July, the former head of the Kazakh military armaments' department, Almas Asenov, was jailed for 11 years on charges of accepting bribes to ignore faulty checks on An-72 aircraft.
Asenov was arrested in January, weeks after the December 2012 crash in Kazakhstan of an An-72 plane that killed 27 people, including the country's border-guard chief.
The Aqmola Garrison Military Court found Buldeshev guilty on December 5 and sentenced him the same day.
His co-defendant, businessman Talghat Zhumakhanov, received a six-year prison term for embezzlement.
Both defendants had pleaded not guilty. Buldeshev was arrested in April and charged with fraudulent activities related to the repair of air force equipment.
In July, the former head of the Kazakh military armaments' department, Almas Asenov, was jailed for 11 years on charges of accepting bribes to ignore faulty checks on An-72 aircraft.
Asenov was arrested in January, weeks after the December 2012 crash in Kazakhstan of an An-72 plane that killed 27 people, including the country's border-guard chief.
