The suspect in the attempt on the Kazakh oppositionist Aidos Sadikov surrendered to the prosecutorʼs office of Kazakhstan

One of the two suspects in the attempt on the opposition journalist Aidos Sadikov surrendered to the law enforcement officers in Kazakhstan.

This was reported by the General Prosecutorʼs Office of the country.

The report states that on June 21, Altai Zhakanbaev "independently turned to the internal affairs authorities", he was interrogated, and then detained.

Operational and search measures are being conducted to establish the whereabouts of the second suspect, Kazakh security forces said.

"Radio Azattyk" writes that the media wrote about the second suspect — Meiram Karatayev — as a police officer. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan assures that the man was released in 2019.

Until 2010, Sadikov was the head of the Aktobe branch of the Azat opposition party. For more than 20 years, he has criticized the current president of Kazakhstan Tokayev and his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev. During this time, criminal cases were initiated against him, his car and property were burned, and he was persecuted. In 2010, Sadikov was sentenced to two years in prison on charges of "hooliganism", and was released in 2012. Sadikov and his supporters called the criminal case fabricated. Sadikov was engaged in active social activities, organized protest actions.

In 2014, the couple moved to Kyiv and received political asylum after a criminal case was opened against Natalia Sadikova in Kazakhstan.

• On June 18, the National Police reported a shooting in the Shevchenkiv district of Kyiv. An unknown person approached the car in which the couple was driving and shot the man. Later it became known that the victim is Sadikov.