The Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court of Kazakhstan’s Atyrau region sentenced Sultan Sarsemaliyev, 30, to life in prison after finding him guilty of the murders of four of his wife’s relatives.
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Judge Zarema Khamidullina said Sarsemaliyev will serve his sentence in a maximum-security correctional facility.
Sarsemaliyev told the court he understood the sentence. Under Kazakhstan’s legal procedures, he has 15 days to appeal.
Defendant expresses remorse but blames victims
In his final statement, Sarsemaliyev said he repented before God and the state, but also attempted to shift responsibility for the killings onto the victims.
“No one is born a beast. Within every person lies a seed of goodness and compassion. But in my case, that seed fell not on fertile black soil, but on my wife’s hard-as-stone relatives. The fear of losing my children and my wife, and the desperate struggle for my family — that’s what led me to this crime,” Sarsemaliyev said.
The court also ordered him to pay 40 million tenge (about $80,000) in compensation for moral damages to the victims’ relatives.
Sarsemaliyev said he did not object to the amount but told the court he did not have the financial means to pay it.
Charges against ex-wife dropped
The court dismissed the criminal case against Sarsemaliyev’s former wife, Akbayan Mukangaliyeva, who had previously been extradited to Kazakhstan from abroad as part of the investigation.
The couple’s five minor children have been placed under state guardianship.
