AKIPRESS.COM - Ata-Meken party leader Omurbek Tekebayev and former Kyrgyz ambassador Duishon Chotonov were sentenced August 16 to 8 years in prison and their property will be confiscated for corruption.

The two are also barred from holding official posts for 3 years.

The presiding judge of the Pervomaiksiy district court, Aibek Ernis uulu, read out the verdict.

However later the lawyer Bakyt Jumashev said the two were granted amnesty on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of declaration of the human rights and the prison terms of each were shortened by 1/3.

According to lawyer Isken Afidjanov, Tekebayev and Chotonov were handed 8 years in prison minus 1 year of pre-trial detention and got their sentences shortened by 1/3, which in the end of the day means the two will were given 4.5 years in prison.

A corruption probe against Tekebayev was launched based on the statements of Russian businessman Leonid Maevsky who said he paid Tekebayev $1 million in exchange for shares in giant mobile operator MegaCom back in 2010 during turmoil in the country. Tekebayev and Chotonov were detained in February 2017 and are held at the temporary detention facility since then.