Kazakh border killings suspect confesses
Jun 7, 2012, 12:23 PM
ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) – Prosecutors in Kazakhstan say a soldier arrested on suspicion of murdering 14 of his colleagues and a park ranger at a remote frontier outpost last week has confessed to the killings.
The General Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Thursday that Vladislav Chelakh admitted to carrying out the act in a state of mental confusion following a dispute at the station on the border with China.
The statement says 20-year old Chelakh stated he had acted alone while his victims were asleep. Chelakh was found several days later in a shepherd’s hut with a handgun and electronic equipment belonging to his colleagues.
The killings have provoked shock across the Central Asian nation. President Nursultan Nazarbayev initially described the incident as an act of terrorism.
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