A trial against four ethnic Uighurs ended at the Sverdlov...

A trial against four ethnic Uighurs ended at the Sverdlov district court of Bishkek in Kyrgzstan.
Judge Marat Osmonkulov sentenced Atabek Akhadov, a citizen of Uzbekistan, to death. Turkish citizen Jalal Kasarji was sentenced to 25 years, and Chinese citizens Muhammed Toktoniyaz to 17 years and Ablemid Kerim to 16 years of imprisonment.
They were accused of organizing the assassination of Nigmat Bazakov and other people in Kyrgyzstan, kidnapping businessmen and being members of a Uighur separatist organization based in China.
Bazakov, head of the Ittipak society of ethnic Uighurs of Kyrgyzstan, was shot dead in front of his house in Bishkek on March 28, 2000; a Chinese businessman was killed and two others were wounded in Bishkek on May 26, 2000; another businessman from China was kidnapped in the southern Osh Province in June 2000 and 100,000 dollars were paid in ransom for him. The four were detained in June 2000 and the trial began in March 2001.