ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A Kazakh court has convicted two men of murder in the killing of figure skater Denis Ten and sentenced them to 18 years in prison.
The court in Almaty issued the rulings against Arman Qudaibergenov and Nuraly Qiyasov on January 17.
The third defendant in the case, Zhanar Tolybaeva, was found guilty of failing to report a crime and handed a four-year prison sentence.
The state prosecutor had asked the court to sentence Qudaibergenov and Qiyasov to 20 years in prison and recommended a four-year sentence for Tolybaeva.
Ten became the first Kazakh figure skater to win an Olympic medal 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 was fatally stabbed in central Almaty in July 2018. He was 25.
Investigators say Qudaibergenov and Qiyasov stabbed Ten after he confronted them while they were trying to steal the side-view mirrors of his car.
Qudaibergenov and Qiyasov pleaded guilty to theft but not guilty to premeditated murder, contending that they had not planned to kill the skater.
Tolybaeva pleaded guilty of not reporting the plan to steal Ten's car mirrors.
Ten trained in Moscow and the United States.
