Kazakh opposition activist dies in Kyiv after assassination attempt
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Kazakh opposition activist and journalist Aidos Sadykov died in Kyiv on July 2, two weeks after being seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, said his wife, Natalya Sadykova.
Ukraine suspects two residents of Kazakhstan, Altai Zhakanbayev and Meiram Karatayev, of carrying out the attack against Sadykov on June 18.
The opposition activist, who was granted asylum in Ukraine in 2014, was shot in a parked car in the Shevchenkivskyi district and spent 13 days hospitalized in an intensive care unit.
"Aidos Sadykov left us today at 3 a.m. Kyiv time, my beloved husband, father of our three children, and the great son of the Kazakh people," Natalya Sadykova said on Facebook.
The killed oppositionist's wife has accused Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of being responsible for the attack. Astana denied the accusations, and Tokayev said Kazakhstan was ready to assist with the investigation.
Zhakanbayev, one of the suspected attackers, surrendered himself to the Kazakh authorities and was detained. Ukraine said it will seek the suspect's extradition. Karatayev remains wanted.
Aidos Sadykov and his wife Natalya Sadykova fled Kazakhstan and were granted political asylum in Ukraine 10 years ago. The couple founded the Base YouTube channel, which is critical of the Kazakh government and oligarchs and has over 1 million subscribers.
Until 2010, Sadykov was the leader of one of the branches of the opposition party Azat in Kazakhstan. He then founded the Gastat movement and organized actions in defense of civil and political rights, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RLE).
The Kazakh court sentenced the activist to two years in prison for "resisting the police" in a case the couple said was politically motivated.
