On July 2, the authorized case towards former Orda editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova will start in Almaty, Kazakh media outlet Vlast reported. She is going to stand trial on expenses underneath three separate articles of Kazakhstan’s Prison Code. Whereas it has lengthy been recognized that expenses associated to the dissemination of knowingly false data can be heard, the 2 different allegations, unlawful entrepreneurship and the embezzlement of one other’s property, had been solely just lately made public.
The trial begins seven months after Bazhkenova was arrested in Almaty and subsequently positioned underneath home arrest, whereas a number of items of work-related gear had been seized from her condo. In the meantime, the places of work of Orda.kz in each Astana and Almaty had been raided by police and several other of Bazhkenova’s colleagues taken in for questioning.
The arrest has drawn criticism from a number of worldwide organizations, with Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Shield Journalists voicing concern over Bazhkenova’s arrest. Within the months since, different concurrent authorized battles have unfolded, putting her lawyer on the time, Murat Adam, extra within the highlight than Bazhkenova herself.
The case, which was initially meant to start on June 26 however was rescheduled, has taken a number of turns over the previous months, prompting observers to query the equity of the trial. On the time of her arrest, it appeared that each one the costs towards Bazhkenova involved the dissemination of knowingly false data associated to Orda publications from 2024, as reported by RFE/RL. Since then, nonetheless, the scope of the case has grown.
Within the months main as much as her arrest, stress was mounting on Bazhkenova as journalists at Orda skilled harassment by unknown actors. In keeping with the outlet, this was a doable prelude to a hostile takeover of the group by the little-known co-founder of Orda, Maksat Ganiyev, as beforehand coated by The Diplomat.
Round this time, Bazhkenova contacted lawyer Murat Adam, who additionally ended up defending her throughout the first months following her arrest. All through December, Adam criticized the arrest of his shopper, stating, amongst different issues, that she had been positioned underneath home arrest with out possible trigger.
He additionally claimed that he had not been allowed to take part within the investigation as a protection lawyer, that the authorities had allowed Ganiyev to take over Orda, and that that they had tried to exchange him as Bazhkenova’s lawyer.
Claims like these landed Adam himself within the limelight when an Almaty court docket took steps to revoke his license to apply regulation in mid-January. This adopted a criticism over Adam’s on-line feedback concerning Bazhkenova’s case.
In court docket, the plaintiffs introduced 16 such feedback for the judges to overview, lots of which Adam shortly denied having written.
In keeping with Adam, the case towards him was purely politically motivated and supposed to take away him from Bazhkenova’s protection. The now previously licensed lawyer voiced this opinion in an interview with The Diplomat.
Because the trial is ready to start, a brand new lawyer has been appointed to signify Bazhkenova by the Almaty Metropolis Bar Affiliation. The brand new authorized workforce will now should deal not solely with the allegations of disseminating knowingly false data, but additionally with expenses of unlawful entrepreneurship and the embezzlement of one other’s property, which had been just lately added. These new expenses are linked to the controversy involving Ganiyev, who has beforehand claimed that Bazhkenova mismanaged funds belonging to the media outlet.
After the trial dates turned public, Orda’s new director, Ganiyev, spoke concerning the case in a number of posts on Telegram. Within the posts, Ganiyev described himself as the only founding father of Orda in 2020 whereas restating his monetary claims towards Bazhkenova, demanding the “return of every part she owes me and took from the editorial workforce.”
Regardless of this, Ganiyev said that he personally doesn’t need to see Bazhkenova disadvantaged of her freedom.
With the trial starting this week, Bazhkenova’s destiny could quickly turn into clear. What influence the case will in the end have on Kazakhstan’s media panorama, nonetheless, is more likely to take longer to find out.
