The Appeals Board of Kazakhstan's Military Court has upheld Vladislav Chelakh's life sentence. He is convicted of killing 15 people at the Arkankergen border post, Novosti-Kazakhstan news agency said.
"The verdict of a specialized interregional court upheld the sentence and did not grant an appeal," the judge said. The decision came into force at the time of announcement.
On Tuesday, the Kazakh Military Court considered the appeal of the case of Kazakh border guard Vladislav Chelakh who was convicted of killing 15 people and sentenced by an interregional specialized military court to life imprisonment. The criminal case was heard by the judge Bahytzhan Karamanov of the Military Court. During the trial, Chelakh's lawyer Serik Sarsenov challenged the judge, but his challenge was rejected.
Some 15 bodies were found at the Arkankergen border post in late May, including 14 border guards and a ranger. Border guard Vladislav Chelakh confessed that he killed his colleagues. However, he later 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. The Interregional Specialized Military Court sentenced Chelakh to a lifelong imprisonment on December 11.
In addition, the court entertained a number of lawsuits against Chelakh that totaled more than 32.8 million tenge. In particular, the court granted the lawsuit of military unit N2484, where Chelakh served, for compensation for damage to property inflicted during the attack at Arkankergen in excess of 7.8 million tenge. Moreover, the court partially granted the lawsuits of five of the victims for the reparation of moral damages. According to the judge, Chelakh must pay five million tenge to each claimant.