Ethnic Uzbek Jailed For Life For Killing Doctor In Kyrgyz Clashes

KARA-SUU, Kyrgyzstan -- An ethnic Uzbek has been jailed for life after being found guilty of killing a doctor during ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Oktamjan Sulaimanov was found guilty of killing of Osh Oblast Pediatric Clinic physician Kasymbek Jusupakmatov during the clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.

Sulaimanov, 44, pleaded guilty. The court also ordered his property be confiscated and Sulaimanov to pay the equivalent of $10,500 to the relatives of the victim.

Jusupakmatov went missing after he was forcibly taken out of his house on June 16. His body was found two weeks later in neighboring Uzbekistan. He was indentified by his dentist.

Jusupakmatov's colleague Dastan Jolboldieva told RFE/RL that the slain physician was 40 and left a wife and a son behind.

Some 400 people were killed and hundreds were wounded during the June clashes in Kyrgyzstan's southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad.

Read in Kyrgyz here.