Rakhat Aliyev trial in Vienna postponed

Rakhat Aliyev, former Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Austria turned fugitive tycoon, has not appeared before the court of Vienna because the process has been delayed indefinitely, Tengrinews correspondent reports citing the spokesman of Viennese prosecutors Nina Buschek.

Previously, September 16 was set as the date of the hearings. It was also this date when Rakhat Aliyev’s arrest should have ended. According to prosecutors, on September 12 his arrest was extended for an unspecified period. They explained this was because the indictment against Aliyev was not yet ready.

Rakhat Aliyev was arrested in Austria on June 5. The Austrian authorities are investigating his involvement in the kidnapinf and murder of two Kazakhstan's bankers Zholdas Timraliyev and Aibar Khasenov.

Aliyev’s lawyer Manfred Aindter declared that the ex-ambassador voluntarily surrendered himself to the Austrian law enforcement in order to cooperate with the investigation.

The Austrian prosecutors confirmed that two other individuals were arrested along with Rakhat Aliyev. Alnur Musayev, former chairman of the National Security Service, was one of them.

The Viennese authorities also informed that the Austrian prosecutors were intending to interrogate Rakhat Aliyev on the murder of politician Altynbek Sarsenbayev.

Back in Kazakhstan another man was convicted for ordering the killing of Sarsenbayev - former head of the Senate Yerzhan Utembayev. Rustam Ibragimov was found guilty in murdering Sarsenbayev. However, in February 2014 the killer confessed that the assassination was ordered by Rakhat Aliyev and Alnur Musayev.

Aliyev was sentenced to 40 years in prison for other crimes in Kazakhstan, namely, murder of the two bankers, treason and preparing a coup d'etat.

Reporting by Dmitry Khegai, writing by Dinara Urazova