Kazakh sentence for weapons boss murder

The former head of Kazakhstan's state weapons exporter, Kazspetsexport, has been sentenced to twenty years in prison for organising the murder of his predecessor.

A court in Almaty found Ers Koshkarov guilty of plotting the killing of Talgat Ibrayev, and of receiving ninety-five thousand dollars worth of bribes.

Mr Ibrayev was shot dead in Almaty last April, and Mr Koshkarov was appointed to succeed him.

The court heard that Mr Ibrayev and others, including Mr Koshkarov, were working on a four-billion-dollar deal to sell forty SU-27 military planes to Pakistan.

They were expected to earn one-million-and-a-half dollars for each plane sold.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service