Kazakh son-in-law 'gets 20 years'

President Nazarbayev brought the charges against Mr Aliyev last June

The former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been found guilty of plotting a coup.

A military court sentenced Rakhat Aliyev - who lives abroad and was not at the trial - to 20 years in prison.

The court said Aliyev and 16 others trained elite forces, and secretly imported military equipment, in order to overthrow the state.

The former politician, businessman and media mogul has denied the charges, and says they are politically motivated.

This is the second sentence passed against Aliyev. In January a different court sentenced him to 20 years for kidnapping and running a criminal gang.

Both sentences were passed in absentia as Aliyev now lives in Austria, which has turned down a request from the Kazakh authorities to extradite him.

Fall from grace

Rakhat Aliyev used to be one of the most powerful men in Kazakhstan.

He served as deputy foreign minister, as well as being a multi-millionaire businessman and the owner of a media empire, along with his former wife Dariga Nazarbayeva - daughter of the president.

Correspondents say they were two of the most powerful and glamorous of Kazakhstan's wealthy oil elite.

Aliyev says the charges were brought against him to keep him out of politics, and to thwart his own presidential ambitions.

From exile, he has accused President Nazarbayev of running a corrupt and totalitarian state.

The BBC's Natalia Antelava in Astana says that, among ordinary people, Aliyev is a hugely unpopular figure.

But while few will be sorry to see him fall from grace, his conviction is unlikely to be seen as a symbol of justice, our correspondent adds.

Rather, she says, most people in Kazakhstan will see this case as another chapter in the story about the family that runs the country, and their disobedient son-in-law who became too ambitious.