Kazakh MFA to help Kirill Denyakin's family appeal against court's decision
ALMATY. KAZINFORM - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan will assist the family of Kazakh national Kirill Denyakin, if they decide to appeal against the court's decision in former police officer Stephen Rankin's case.
"The Ministry will assist Kirill Denyakin's family, if they decide to appeal against the court's decision," a source at the Kazakh MFA's press service told Kazinform correspondent.
Earlier Kazinform reported that ex-cop Stephen Rankin was found guilty for fatally shooting American teenager William Chapman and sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Prosecutors had sought a maximum sentence of 10 years.
It should be noted that it wasn't Rankin's first fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Virginia. In April 2011 the police officer shot and killed Kazakhstani Kirill Denyakin who was working in Portsmouth. Rankin fired 11 shots. A grand jury declined to bring charges.
Kirill's mother, Yelena Denyakina, flew to the U.S. and was in the courtroom at the moment when the verdict was read out to support Chapman's mother, Sallie.