ALMATY, Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan's intelligence chief resigned Wednesday after several of his subordinates were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the slaying of an opposition leader.
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The opposition has said the Feb. 11 killing of Altynbek Sarsenbayev was politically motivated and was carried out by the special services.
Nartai Dutbayev submitted his resignation Tuesday, hours after the National Security Committee said that five of its employees were among the six arrested suspects.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with him on Wednesday and "accepted his offer of resignation," the president's office said.
"I believe that I have no moral right to head the National Security Committee in the given situation," Dutbayev said after the meeting, according to the president's office.
He also said that the arrested security service officers "betrayed their duty and the interests of the people" and must be punished.
The Kazakhstan Today news agency said later Wednesday that police arrested the administration chief of parliament's upper house, Senate, Erzhan Utembayev, on suspicion of involvement in the murder.
Sarsenbayev, a leader of the Nagyz Ak Zhol party, was the second prominent government critic to be killed in the oil-rich Central Asian nation in the past three months.
He was kidnapped along with his bodyguard and driver, and all three were shot dead in mountains near the commercial capital, Almaty.
Nazarbayev, who has ruled the ex-Soviet republic for 16 years, has been criticized in recent years for growing authoritarianism. He was re-elected to a new seven-year term in a December vote that was criticized by Western observers as flawed.
The president has vowed that whoever is responsible for Sarsenbayev's death will get "the toughest punishment."
Sarsenbayev, a 43-year-old former government minister and ambassador to Russia, joined the opposition in 2003.
Three months ago Zamanbek Nurkadilov, an outspoken critic of the president and a former regional governor and emergencies minister, died from multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities ruled the death a suicide.
The opposition said Wednesday it was planning to hold a demonstration in Almaty on Sunday to commemorate Sarsenbayev.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222...GxvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
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The opposition has said the Feb. 11 killing of Altynbek Sarsenbayev was politically motivated and was carried out by the special services.
Nartai Dutbayev submitted his resignation Tuesday, hours after the National Security Committee said that five of its employees were among the six arrested suspects.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev met with him on Wednesday and "accepted his offer of resignation," the president's office said.
"I believe that I have no moral right to head the National Security Committee in the given situation," Dutbayev said after the meeting, according to the president's office.
He also said that the arrested security service officers "betrayed their duty and the interests of the people" and must be punished.
The Kazakhstan Today news agency said later Wednesday that police arrested the administration chief of parliament's upper house, Senate, Erzhan Utembayev, on suspicion of involvement in the murder.
Sarsenbayev, a leader of the Nagyz Ak Zhol party, was the second prominent government critic to be killed in the oil-rich Central Asian nation in the past three months.
He was kidnapped along with his bodyguard and driver, and all three were shot dead in mountains near the commercial capital, Almaty.
Nazarbayev, who has ruled the ex-Soviet republic for 16 years, has been criticized in recent years for growing authoritarianism. He was re-elected to a new seven-year term in a December vote that was criticized by Western observers as flawed.
The president has vowed that whoever is responsible for Sarsenbayev's death will get "the toughest punishment."
Sarsenbayev, a 43-year-old former government minister and ambassador to Russia, joined the opposition in 2003.
Three months ago Zamanbek Nurkadilov, an outspoken critic of the president and a former regional governor and emergencies minister, died from multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities ruled the death a suicide.
The opposition said Wednesday it was planning to hold a demonstration in Almaty on Sunday to commemorate Sarsenbayev.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222...GxvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--