Former Kazakh ambassador to Austria found dead in Vienna jail cell

Former Kazakh Ambassador to Austria Rakhat Aliyev was found dead in a jail cell in the Josefstadt prison in Vienna, after allegedly hanging himself sometime overnight, Austrian authorities said Tuesday.

Aliyev was awaiting trial on charges including kidnapping and the murder of two bank managers in Kazakhstan after being arrested in Austria when he turned himself in in 2014, following a four-year investigation.

Austrian authorities rejected the extradition of Aliyev to Kazakhstan.

His body was found at 7:20 a.m. in a solitary confinement cell, according to director of the corrections department Peter Prechtl.

His lawyer Stefan Prochaska, however, claimed the circumstances of his alleged suicide are suspicious, Austria Press Agency reported, particularly in light of his trial that was set to begin soon.

Prochaska said a suicide "makes no sense" as he had spent much time with his client over the past few months, and said he did not show signs of weakness, and saw him as a "fighter".

Additionally many holes had been found in the accusations levelled against Aliyev, Prochaska said, and his murder could have been carried out to avoid the charges against him collapsing.

Prechtl however rejected the claims of foul play, saying the former senior official's death was "clearly suicide" with no indications that would suggest otherwise.

Any alleged murderers would have had to have had access to a cell key, which is "not easy to get," and the corridor outside the cell is observed by camera, the footage of which has been handed over to investigators, and also does not show any suspicious activity.

Aliyev had himself previously claimed the case against him was politically motivated as he had become an outspoken critic of President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, to whose eldest daughter he had been married until 2007. Endit