Suspects in murder of journalist Sadykov worked in security services in Kazakhstan

The suspects in the murder of Aidos Sadykov, a Kazakhstani journalist, could have worked in the National Security Committee and the Foreign Intelligence Service of Kazakhstan.

Source: article of Ukrainska Pravda "Killer Tourists: Eastern Special Services Might Be Responsible for the Murder of Journalist Aidos Sadykov in Kyiv"

Details: The Main Department of the National Police of Ukraine in the city of Kyiv told Ukrainska Pravda that the suspects entered and left Ukraine using their real foreign passports. Meiram Karataev and Altai Zhakanbaev managed to flee Ukraine on the day of the assassination attempt.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan officially reported that Karataev had resigned from the internal affairs bodies back in 2019 and was not a member of law enforcement agencies anymore.

Meanwhile, the Kazakh service of Radio Liberty checked Karataev’s mobile phone in the Getcontact app, which tracks how subscribers record each other in their lists of contacts. It turned out that the users of the programme identified Karataev as "SWAT", "sniper" and "SOBR [the Special Rapid Response Unit – ed.]". On several phones, he was recorded as "Meiram Aristan" and about 20 people called him "Meiram A".

"Aristan" is the former name of a special unit that is a part of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan (NSC). Then its name was shortened to one single letter "A".

The journalists checked Altai Zhakanbaev in the app as well. Some users recorded him as "Altai Sirbar NSC", "Altai NSC" and "Altai Sir".

"Sirbar" is the name given to the Foreign Intelligence Service of Kazakhstan, which is part of the National Security Committee.

Circumstantial evidence suggests that two members of the NSC, one of whom is a sniper, came to the city of Kyiv, killed Aidos Sadykov and returned home.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine did not disclose whether Karataev and Zhakanbaev had undergone an additional check-up, referring to the fact that such information about individuals is confidential.

A friend of the murdered Sadykov, speaking to the UP journalist, is asking rhetorically: "It turns out that any terrorist organisation or any foreign state structure can bring people to Ukraine and kill anyone?"

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