One of two men detained in Kazakhstan on suspicion of killing Olympic figure skating medalist Denis Ten has confessed, authorities said Friday.
Prosecutor Berik Zhuyrektayev said in a televised statement that Nuraly Kiyasov "confessed his guilt in the presence of an attorney" while being questioned over the 25-year-old skater's death Thursday in the Kazakh city of Almaty.
The prosecutor didn't give further details of what exactly Kiyasov had said.
In this Feb. 16, 2018 file photo, figure skater Denis Ten, of Kazakhstan, reacts as his score is posted following his performance in the men's short program figure skating, in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
Police have also detained 23-year-old Arman Kudaibergenov in connection with Ten's death, which has prompted national mourning. Authorities released a picture of the disheveled-looking man being held by masked men wearing body armor and camouflage uniforms.
Ten was stabbed after a dispute with people who allegedly tried to steal a mirror from his car in his home city of Almaty. He died in hospital of massive blood loss from multiple wounds, the Kazinform news agency said.
Prosecutors are treating his death as murder.
In this Oct. 21, 2017 file photo, Denis Ten, of Kazakhstan, skates his free program at the Rostelekom Cup ISU Grand Prix figure skating event in Moscow, Russia. Prosecutors in Kazakhstan said Thursday, July 19, 2018. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)
Kazinform reported that Kiyasov was taken to the scene of the crime under heavy security Friday as part of the investigation.
Ten's bronze in Sochi in 2014 made him Kazakhstan's first Olympic medalist in figure skating. He also won the Four Continents championships in 2015, and was a world championship silver medalist in 2013.
He struggled with injuries in recent years and could only finish 27th at the Pyeongchang Olympics in February.
Ten had been working on a script in recent months which the Kazakh-Russian director Timur Bekmambetov said Friday would now be turned into a movie.
"We're definitely going to try to realize his idea and shoot a film dedicated to this multi-talented person," Bekmambetov said in comments released by Kazakhstan's embassy to Russia. "In his 25 years, Ten managed to do very much and had grand plans which he would surely have put into practice because he was a real hard worker."
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996 in Las Vegas said Tuesday his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction.
"He himself is giving different stories," attorney Carl Arnold told reporters outside a courtroom following a brief status check with his client, Duane “Keffe D” Davis, in front of a Nevada judge. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 4.
“We haven’t seen more than just his word,” Arnold said of Davis' police and media interviews since 2008 in which prosecutors say he incriminated himself in Shakur's killing — including Davis' 2019 tell-all memoir of life leading a street gang in Compton, California.
Prosecutor Binu Palal did not immediately comment outside court about Arnold's statements. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said evidence against Davis is strong and it will be up to a jury to decide the credibility of Davis' accounts.
Arnold said his client wanted to make money with his story, so he embellished or outright lied about his involvement in the car-to-car shooting that killed Shakur and wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight at a traffic signal near the Las Vegas Strip in September 1996.
Knight, now 59, is serving 28 years in a California prison for killing a Compton businessman with a vehicle in 2015. He was not called by prosecutors to testify before the grand jury that indicted Davis last year.
Arnold said Davis will not testify at trial, but he intends to call Knight to testify. The defense attorney said police and prosecutors lack proof that Davis was in Las Vegas at the time of Shakur's killing, and don’t have the gun and car used during the shooting as evidence.
“We’ve seen video of everybody else here. Where’s video of him?" Arnold said of Davis. "There’s just nothing saying that he was here.”
Davis has been jailed on $750,000 bail since his arrest in September. Arnold said Tuesday that Davis has been unable to raise the 10% needed to obtain a bond to be released to house arrest.
Davis, 60, is originally from Compton. Police, prosecutors and Davis say he is the only person still alive who was in the car from which shots were fired.
Davis pleaded not guilty in November to first-degree murder. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
In his book, Davis wrote that he was promised immunity from prosecution when he told authorities in Los Angeles what he knew about the fatal shootings of Shakur and rival rapper Christopher Wallace six months later in Los Angeles. Wallace was known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls.
Shakur had five No. 1 albums, was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted in 2017 into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He received a posthumous star last year on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
This story has been updated to correct that Marion “Suge” Knight is in prison for killing someone with a vehicle, not a fatal shooting.
FILE - Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voter registration event in South Central Los Angeles, Aug. 15, 1996. The defense attorney representing a former Los Angeles-area gang leader accused of killing hip-hop music icon Tupac Shakur in 1996, in Las Vegas, said Tuesday, April 23, 2024, his client's accounts of the killing are fiction and prosecutors lack key evidence to obtain a murder conviction. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese, File)
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, appears in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, center, and his attorney Carl Arnold, right, appear in court during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
District Court Judge Carli Kierny presides over a status hearing for Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, right, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, right, listens to his attorney Carl Arnold during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, who is accused of orchestrating the 1996 slaying of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur, is led into the courtroom during a status hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
