ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Hundreds of people have gathered in Kazakhstan's second city to honor Kazakh Olympic figure skater Denis Ten one year after he was fatally stabbed by two men trying to steal parts off his car.
Local residents, friends, noted Kazakh athletes, Almaty city authorities, and fellow figure skaters from Canada, Japan, and Russia met on July 19 at the site where the killers struck exactly one year earlier, after the 25-year-old Olympic medalist confronted them while they were trying to take his sideview mirrors.
Mourners also brought flowers to the site where on June 22 a monument to Ten was unveiled.
Songs written and performed by Ten were played at the ceremony.
In January, a court in Almaty convicted the men of murder and sentenced them each to 18 years in prison.
The third defendant in the case, a woman, was found guilty of failing to report a crime and handed a four-year prison sentence.
Ten became Kazakhstan's first-ever figure-skating Olympic medalist when he earned a bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He also won medals at the world championships in 2013 and 2015.
Ten trained in Moscow and the United States.
