ASTANA, Dec 6, SPA - An ex-policeman convicted ofmurdering one of Kazakhstan's leading opposition politicianstold an appeal hearing on Wednesday senior officials putpressure on him to give false testimony in his trial, according to Reuters. Rustam Ibragimov was sentenced to death in August for themurder of Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, a leading opponent oflong-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Sarsenbaiuly's supporters said at the time the trial wasorchestrated by the authorities to cover up the truth. Ibragimov, whose sentence will in any case be commuted tolife in prison under a moratorium, told the Central Asianstate's Supreme Court his original testimony -- partlysupporting the prosecution's case -- was made under duress. "The general prosecutor and interior minister stood over meand told me there was no one higher than them... I was scared ofwhat would happen, not to me but to my family," he said. Calls to the office of General Prosecutor Rashid Tusupbekovwere not answered. A spokesman at Interior Minister BaurzhanMukhamedzhanov's office did not return calls seeking comment. Sarsenbaiuly, his bodyguard and driver were found outsideAlmaty, the oil-producing state's biggest city, in February withpistol shots to the back and head. The opposition said he wasthe victim of a political assassination. Police, prosecutors and the court that heard the case saidYerzhan Utembayev, a former civil servant in the upper house ofparliament, had hired Ibragimov and others to murderSarsenbaiuly in revenge for a newspaper article three yearsearlier by Sarsenbaiuly calling Utembayev a drunk. Nazarbayev backed that version of events. The United States,which lent Kazakhstan FBI experts to help in the case, has notcriticised the original verdict. Although Ibragimov pleaded innocent in his trial, he partlysupported the prosecution case. He said he had organised ameeting between the victim and Utembayev's boss, the speaker ofthe Senate upper house of parliament, Nurtay Abykayev. In that original testimony he made a number of lurid claims,saying a man with links to the CIA and the Vatican and twoKazakh officials ordered the killing as part of an elaborateplot to oust Nazarbayev. On Wednesday, he recanted that testimony and said theinterior minister and general prosecutor told him he should nameNazarbayev's eldest daughter Dariga and husband Rakhat Aliyev asordering the murder, although he refused to. Neither Dariga Nazarbayeva nor Aliyev were mentioned in theoriginal court case but some in the opposition made accusationsagainst them. Both strongly denied any involvement. The Supreme Court appeal, which started on Tuesday, isexpected to run for several days.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/409252