Silk Road Intelligencer 039
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Transcript of Silk Road Intelligencer 039
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7/30/2019 Silk Road Intelligencer 039
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Silk Road Intelligencer.SECURITY: Conscript sentenced for mass murder
>>A guilty verdict hasnt stopped questions over the
murder of 14 soldiers in a remote outpost
Vladislav Chelakh may have confessed to the killing of 14soldiers and a park ranger at a remote outpost on the
border with China in May and a court on Dec. 11 in the
southern city of Taldykorgan may also have found him
guilty but doubt still lingers.
The case has gripped Kazakhstan and many still believe
that Chelakh, a thin 20-year-old army conscript, couldnt
have killed that number of armed soldiers and a park
ranger in his nearby hunting lodge.
In his initial confession, Chelakh described how he had
snapped after intense bullying. He had shot dead a sentry
and then killed other soldiers sleeping inside the
outpost.He was certainly the only survivor. The authorities
found him a few days after the attack with cash and a
stolen laptop. They also said that he had boasted of the
killings to a fellow inmate while waiting for the trial to
begin.
Chelakh, though, soon retracted his confession, which he
said he had made under duress.
Alternative theories have been promoted by onlookers for
the murders. How is it, they have said, that a conscript
could kill 14 armed men? Alternative theories floating
around are that either smugglers or Islamic extremists
killed the soldiers.There are obvious flaws in these theories too.
Regardless, Chelakh has begun a life sentence in one of
Kazakhstans most perplexing crime mysteries.
TELECOMS: Kcells London IPO
>>Kcells IPO marks an important step forward for Kazakh
business
It may have floated at the lower end of its proposed price
range, but Kcells IPO in London on Dec. 12 was important
as it allowed Western investors access to a major Kazakh
company that wasnt focused on banking or natural
resources.Global depositary receipts for Kcell sold for $10.50,
the bottom of a range that had been given an upper
estimate of $13. Shortly after the IPO, though, prices had
already risen, showing investors appetite for the stock.
And this is important. The global economy may be
floundering but investors still clearly believe that
buying stock in Kazakhstans largest mobile operator is
worth the risk. The Kazakh economy has been growing
steadily at roughly 5% a year and, although there have
been murmurings, unrest and volatility have been kept to a
minimum. Kazakhstan, then, investors appear to have
decided, is a decent place to build a mobile phonenetwork.
In all, the IPO earned Swedish telecoms company
TeliaSonera $525m for the 25% stake in the company that it
sold off. It now owns roughly 62% of Kcell.
ENERGY: Pipeline to China
China agreed to lend Kazakhstan
$1.8b to build a gas pipeline
across the country, Bloomberg newsagency reported quoting the Kazakh
state energy transport company
KazTransGaz (Dec. 13). The pipeline
will run from Beineu in the west
to Shymkent in the south of
Kazakhstan, part of a pipeline
network that will stretch to China.
INT. RELATIONS: Baikonur quandaries
Confusion reigned over Kazakhstans
plans for Baikonur, the space
rocket launch site in the south thatit has leased to Russia since the
collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991. At the start of the week,
media reported that Kazakhstan
wanted to run the site jointly with
Russia, a story it denied later in
the week (Dec. 13).
MEDIA: Crackdown continues
The Kazakh authorities closed down
the satellite TV station K-plus,
local media reported, continuing
their crackdown on opposition media
outlets (Dec. 12). K-plus, like the
other Kazakh opposition TV channel
Stan TV, broadcast its programmes
via the internet.
RELIGION: Tighening worship
Forum18, the Oslo-based religion
news agency, reported that the
Kazakh authorities had started
closing down Christian and Muslim
places of worship which had failed
last months re-registration
process (Dec. 11). The authorities
in Kazakhstan said they needed to
re-register religious groups to
clampdown on extremism.
SOCIETY: Renaming Astana
A civic group, which Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty described as
"state-controlled", proposed
renaming Astana, the capital city,
as Nazarbayev (Dec. 11). Astana,
which means capital in Kazakh, isone of President Nursultan
Nazarbayevs pet projects. His
critics have accused him of
creating a personality cult.
Issue no. 039 (with The Conway Bulletin no. 117)
Dec. 14 2012 (covering Dec. 8 - Dec. 13)
Edited in London
www.theconwaybulletin.com Copyright 2012The Conway Bulletin, 12 Melcombe Place, London, NW1 6JJ
Your weekly newssheet covering the most important news from Kazakhstan
(formerly Kazakhstan News Extra)