Bayaliev shot after Nurzhan tribunal

NURZHAN — Tynai Bayaliev, Minister of Defence of the Democratic Republic of Irad, was executed by firing squad at the Nurzhan garrison yesterday morning, the ISEZ emergency administration announced. He was 58. It is the first execution in Irad since capital punishment was abolished in 1994.

Mr. Bayaliev was sentenced to death on 25 October by an emergency military tribunal sitting in Nurzhan under the Governor's emergency directives, which apply "the military regulations of wartime". He was convicted of high treason, for signing the military annex of the partition drafts, and for the shelling of Talas during the Popular Front's assault on the city in June. The trial lasted four days. He was arrested by Nurzhan police at Merke on 8 June, four days after fleeing Talas.

Erlan Toktarov refused clemency on Wednesday. A statement from his office said the Governor had "considered the petition with the gravity it deserved" and that "the Republic cannot forgive the sale of its soldiers".

Mr. Bayaliev's family was allowed to see him on Thursday. His lawyer said the tribunal had no right to pass a sentence the law abolished thirteen years ago. Lawyers in Talas said that question would outlive the case. In Talas, where many families lost relatives in the shelling, there was little sympathy. "He gave the order," said a woman in the Citadel Quarter whose house was hit. "Now someone has given his."