Businessman sentenced in Pavlodar for murder of entrepreneur stabbed 22 times

A court in Kazakhstan's Pavlodar Region has handed down a verdict in the murder of a local entrepreneur who was stabbed 22 times, the website infohub.kz reports.

According to the regional television channel Irbis TV, 52-year-old entrepreneur Asulan Nurmagambetov disappeared in February last year while on his way to work in Pavlodar. Three days later, he was found dead. Investigators determined that he had been stabbed 22 times with a hunting knife in a garage.

The suspect turned out to be a businessman with whom the victim had business dealings. He fled to Russia but was later detained and extradited to Kazakhstan. Initially, the victim's debt was considered as a possible motive.

The court announced its verdict today.

"To find him guilty of a criminal offense under Article 99, Part 2, Paragraph 5 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and to sentence him to 15 years of imprisonment, to be served in a medium-security correctional facility," Judge Ainur Yusupova of the Specialized Interdistrict Criminal Court of Pavlodar Region announced.

The court took into account the absence of aggravating circumstances and the presence of mitigating ones. However, the victim's relatives disagree with the verdict.

"He didn't spare my brother, and I won't spare him. I will go to the end. I will go as far as I can. This sentence doesn't satisfy me — 15 years, and he's already served almost 2 of them. He spent a year in pretrial detention, counted as a year and a half. So he's already served almost 2 years. That leaves 13 years. I'm not satisfied," said the victim's sister, Gulzhikhan Ryspayeva.

Under the court's verdict, the defendant must also pay compensation for moral damages to the victim's relatives. His wife is to receive 8 million tenge, and his sisters and brother one million each. In addition, the convicted man must reimburse them for legal fees and funeral expenses. The verdict has not yet entered into force and may be appealed.

Recall that in February 2025, the body of a missing resident of Pavlodar was found. Police opened a case under the article "Murder." A search for the suspect began. In March, it was reported that the investigation into the murder of businessman Asulan Nurmagambetov had been completed in Pavlodar. The suspect was detained in Russia and brought to Kazakhstan.