ALMATY (KAZAKHSTAN), February 6 - RAPSI. The Kazakh Criminal Court's judicial panel has upheld on Wednesday the life sentence against a 19-year-old border guard charged with killing 15 people.

On December 11, border guard Vladislav Chelakh was found guilty of committing a mass murder at the Arkankergen border post near the Kazakh-Chinese border and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court has also partially upheld the civil lawsuits filed by the victims' families to recover over $218,000 in material and moral damages.

Chelakh has been accused of murder, theft, illegally obtaining and distributing state secrets, embezzlement or the extortion of weapons, and a host of other crimes.

The massacre took place in May 2012. After the border post went off air, a neighboring unit was sent to inspect the location.

When they arrived, they found that the barrack had been burned down. Fourteen dead were inside. A hunter's body was found at a nearby house.

Chelakh, the sole survivor, was detained several days later.

The border guard initially confessed to murdering his colleagues and the huntsman, but later denied his testimony, claiming that he had testified under pressure.