Kazakhstan developing new law to prevent border incidents

    By E. Kosolapova
    A new law on the state border is now being developed in Kazakhstan to prevent incidents similar to one at the Arkankergen border post, Novosti-Kazakhstan reports.
    “The Majilis awaits a new law on the state border within the next few months. It will be a completely new law, it is being prepared by Border Service Committee,” Majilis MP, Chairman of the Majilis Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security Maulen Ashimbayev told journalists on Wednesday.
    On May 30 a fire took place at the Arkankergen border post on the Kazakh-Chinese border. During the summer, 15 frontier guards serve at this post.
    About 15 corpses were later found at the scene, including 14 border guards as well as a hunter not far away.
    A fifteenth border guard was found alive near the post. Later the surviving guard Vladislav Chelakh confessed he had killed his colleagues while they were asleep and then set fire to the barracks, the Prosecutor General’s Office reports.
    Chelakh said he killed his colleagues because of conflicts with them and claimed he could not think straight. The investigation is ongoing.
    Moreover, on June 18 eleven other border guards went AWOL from the Tersayryk frontier post in East Kazakhstan. On June 19 all these border guards were found 18 kilometers from the Tersayryk frontier post. This incident is also under investigation.
    According to Ashimbayev, parliament MPs will now engage in great efforts to analyze the situation on the border before approving the law. In particular, they plan to visit several state border sites and speak with guards.
    “The incident at Arkankergen and other state border sites requires an analysis of the possible reasons and taking appropriate measures. We will try to include regulations into the law that will prevent such tragic events,” he said, Trend reports.