QURGHON TEPPA, April 3, 2014, Asia-Plus -- The Khatlon regional court sentenced Daler Vatanov, resident of the Takhti Sangin jamoat in the Qubodiyon district, to 16 years in prison.

Judge Toshtemir Qurbonzoda, who presided over the trial, says the sentence followed his conviction on charges of killing.  Vatanov wills serve his term in a high-security penal colony.  

The court''s ruling was nearly identical to the prosecution''s earlier demand for a 17-year prison term.

Judge Toshtemir Qurbonzoda says Vatanov is charged with killing his mistress Olga Primakova, who is national of Russia, in the Balashov district, Russia’s Saratov oblast on September 12, 2012.

According to him, Daler Vatanov struck Olga Primakova with an axe after she called him “churka” (churka, literally ''a piece of firewood’, is a Russian offensive term for someone from the Caucasus or Central Asia) following family quarrel.

Officers from the Interior Ministry’s office in Khatlon arrested Daler Vatanov in the Takhti Sangin jamoat in February this year on the basis of materials provided by Russia’s Investigative Committee.