Azerbaijan, Baku, June 21 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
The Kazakh Military Court upheld the life sentence for border guard Vladislav Chelakh who had been accused of killing 15 people at the post near the Chinese border, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency reported.
"The verdict of a specialized criminal interregional court on Vladislav Chelakh's case from December 11, 2012 and the decision of the Military Court's criminal appeals board from February 6, 2013 remained unchanged. The court did not grant the barrister's appeal," the judge said.
Earlier, Chelakh's lawyer foreheads Serik Sarsenov said that his client was going to submit a petition for clemency to the President after appealing to all Kazakh courts. Later he will appeal to UN Committee on Human Rights. Sarsenov stressed that in the petition for clemency Chelakh would not plead guilty, but merely point to the fact that, in his opinion, all the courts of Kazakhstan found him guilty illegally.
Some 15 bodies were found at the Arkankergen border post in late May, 2012 including 14 border guards and a ranger. Border guard Vladislav Chelakh confessed that he killed his colleagues. However, later he refuted this confession and said the border post had been attacked. However Chelakh was sentenced to life in prison after being found solely responsible for the killings. In December, Chelakh appealed the verdict.