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02/15/2006:

"'Death squad' kills outspoken critic of Kazakh government"

The government of oil-rich Kazakhstan has been accused of operating death squads after a prominent opposition politician was found murdered with his driver and bodyguard. Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, 43, was the second opposition leader to be found dead in suspicious circumstances in three months.

He had made himself unpopular with the government of President Nursultan Nazarbayev by criticising his daughter and heir apparent, Dariga, for her grip on the country's media.

Though government sources suggested he may have died in a hunting or road accident, the politician's colleagues allege he was killed to order by the former Soviet state's secret police.

He was last seen alive on Friday after which his mobile phone went dead. His body was discovered on Monday with that of his driver and his bodyguard in a ravine on the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan's commercial capital.
independent.co.uk