Yana Legkodimova. Photo from social media.
Rizuan Khairzhanov and Altynbek Katimov, residents of Atyrau in western Kazakhstan who were convicted in the brutal murder of 23-year-old Yana Legkodimova, have filed an appeal against their life sentences. The news was reported by Tengrinews.kz, citing Azhar Abdil, a representative of the victim’s family.
According to Abdil, the defense is seeking to have the life sentences replaced with a more lenient punishment. Earlier, lawyers for Khairzhanov and Katimov had argued that their clients’ admission of guilt should be considered a mitigating circumstance in the case.
Yana Legkodimova, a resident of Atyrau, went missing on October 18, 2024. She left home after receiving a phone call from an acquaintance and never returned. Her remains were found eight months later, in June 2025, on the banks of the Ural River near the village of Taldykol.
Police were able to identify the suspects after examining Legkodimova’s diary, in which she mentioned a man identified by the initial “R.” According to the prosecution, Khairzhanov strangled the young woman inside a car, while his accomplice, Katimov, held the door shut to prevent her escape. After the murder, the men dumped her body into the Ural River.
Investigators believe Khairzhanov decided to kill Legkodimova out of fear that she would inform his fiancée about their relationship. He allegedly promised Katimov 500,000 tenge (about $956) in exchange for his assistance. The investigation established that prior to the killing, the two men had discussed dozens of possible ways to murder Legkodimova. They also planned to destroy her phone and, after the killing, cleaned the interior of the car.
Both defendants pleaded guilty during the trial.
As Tengrinews.kz previously reported, one of the key pieces of evidence in the case was a recovered text message exchange between Khairzhanov and Katimov. In the messages, the men wrote that everything “had to go perfectly” and that they had “done things even worse.” One message read: “Time to put you in the ground, sweetheart—you touched my little pie.” The correspondence also included discussions about the possibility of bribing officials if law enforcement authorities began to suspect them.
The case sparked widespread public outrage in Kazakhstan and received extensive media coverage.
On November 17, the specialized interdistrict criminal court of the Atyrau Region sentenced Khairzhanov and Katimov to life imprisonment. They are to serve their sentences in a maximum-security correctional facility.
