LEBEDINOVKA, Kyrgyzstan -- A Kyrgyz man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his involvement in the assassination of opposition politician Medet Sadyrkulov, a killing that shocked the Central Asian nation in 2009.
The Alumudun district court in the northern Chui region sentenced Sanjar Saparbekov on November 18 after finding him guilty of murder and kidnapping as well as the destruction of private property and documents.
Saparbekov, a childhood friend of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev's son, Maksim, was arrested in November last year. His trial started in February.
The court concluded that Saparbekov, who is a former professional kickboxer, knocked Sadyrkulov down and suffocated him to death before simulating a traffic accident.
Saparbekov pleaded not guilty, insisting that his involvement in the high-profile murder had not been proven.
Medet Sadyrkulov and two associates were found dead in a burned-out car near Bishkek in March 2009. The deaths were initially ruled to be the result of a traffic accident.
But the high-profile case was reopened, and the deaths were reassigned as assassinations after President Bakiev fled the country in April 2010 following mass anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Bishkek.
Sadyrkulov was killed shortly after he left a job as Bakiev's chief of staff to join the opposition. He had previously served as chief of staff to Bakiev's predecessor, Askar Akaev.
In 2012, a Bishkek court convicted Kurmanbek Bakiev and his brother, Janysh Bakiev, in absentia of being involved in the killings. They were sentenced to 24 years in prison and life imprisonment, respectively.
In a separate trial held that year, five former security officers were also sentenced to prison terms for their roles in the killings.
Kurmanbek Bakiev, who served as Kyrgyzstan’s president from 2005 until 2010, has been living with his family in Belarus since his ouster. Belarusian authorities have refused to extradite him and his relatives to Kyrgyzstan.