A court in Almaty has sentenced a man involved in a high-profile murder committed in 2008. The criminal had evaded justice for years outside Kazakhstan under a false identity, reports infohub.kz.
Seventeen years after the crime, the Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court of Almaty found Yu.Yu. guilty of aiding a murder committed by a group with prior conspiracy and sentenced him to 15 years in prison.
According to the court, the crime occurred on the night of May 19, 2008, in central Almaty. Yu. and his accomplice A.K., who were in conflict with a representative of the criminal underworld, ambushed the victim near a house on Furmanov Street (now Nazarbayev Avenue). Several aimed shots were fired, including a control shot to the head. The man died at the scene.
After the murder, Yu. left Kazakhstan and was placed on the international wanted list. His accomplice K. continued his criminal activities. In the summer of 2008, he was detained after an armed incident at the recreation area "Old Fortress" on the Kapchagai reservoir (now the city of Konayev), during which a police officer was killed and four others were seriously wounded. In 2009, K. was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Meanwhile, the search for Yu. continued. According to available information, he was known in criminal circles by the nickname King Kong and was part of the entourage of a well-known Kyrgyz crime boss. Kyrgyz law enforcement also sought him in connection with the murder of a car wash owner in Bishkek in 2007. For many years, Yu. hid in European countries using a false identity.
However, in August 2025, he was detained while crossing the Lithuanian border, and in November, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, he was extradited from Lithuania to his homeland.
The supervisory authority noted that this extradition was the result of new approaches by the Prosecutor General's Office to international cooperation and established interaction with foreign partners. "Expanding direct contacts with competent authorities of foreign states, prompt exchange of information, and the use of modern mechanisms of international search allow us to locate and return to the country persons who have been evading Kazakhstani justice for years," the Prosecutor General's Office reported.