The investigation has established

The defendant, we recall, was accused of falsifying material evidence in the notorious “Khorgos case,” which entailed grave consequences (see “Witnesses were recruited from the “pyatyak” and from KazNU,” “Vremya” dated 12.12.2024 ). It was these machinations that allowed the leadership of the former financial police in 2011 to extend the arrests of the main defendants, fabricate materials needed by the investigation, and later manipulate the state prosecution and the court.

It is noteworthy that in the Kuandykov case there are no facts of disclosure of state secrets, and there is no information about depraved sexual acts against minors. But from the very first day, for some reason, Zalina Ilyasovna classified the court proceedings. Back in early November last year, when the criminal case was received by her, I sent my request to the head of the press service of the Almaty City Court, Darkhan MYRZAKHAN. I was interested in what details of the criminal case served as the reason for closing this case from the general public, because even the first “Khorgos” was not closed, although there was more than enough secrecy in that criminal case. The press secretary promised to find out all the details and since he went underground…

And when Judge Makharadze issued an acquittal, not only the victims, but also the prosecutor, for reasons that have not yet been clarified, were unable to obtain a copy of her verdict. It is clear that due to the closed nature of the case, the verdict is not publicly available in the judicial database.

The court promised that a copy of the verdict would be issued only on the 15th day (!) after the announcement. This is usually done so that the parties do not have time to appeal and the first instance verdict could come into legal force. But not in this case: the employees of the interdepartmental investigative and operational group (MIOG) at the Prosecutor General's Office got busy, and the Almaty prosecutor's office managed to file a protest with the Almaty City Court against the acquittal.

Of course, it is necessary to justify, but for this, very weighty and objective grounds are needed. The editorial board got a copy of the protest, from which it became clear the reason for the acquittal of the financial police officer - the absence of corpus delicti in his actions.

But here is a short quote from the prosecutor's protest: "The court's stated conclusions do not correspond to the factual circumstances and materials of the criminal case, and the above-mentioned court decision is subject to cancellation." The prosecutors cite excerpts from the dictionaries of S. I. Ozhegov and D. N. Ushakov, which interpret the concept of the word "falsification," and convince the city court panel that the falsification of 24 protocols at once "forms the elements of the crime incriminated to him, which entailed grave consequences."

Namely: as a result of these falsifications, the indictment for the first “Khorgos” was formed (see “Fake witnesses expose the falsifiers of the “Khorgos case”, “Vremya” from 12/19/2024 ).

However, let's not get ahead of ourselves: it is unlikely that the judges of the City Court's appellate panel studied the prosecutor's protest - this document has only just reached them. It is possible that the victims have managed to file an appeal, but so far there has been no contact with them.

And now details of another criminal case from the second “Khorgos” series, related to torture (see “Recorded from my words correctly…”, “Vremya” from 20.2.2025 ). At this trial, some materials published in the newspaper “Vremya” were studied on the facts of torture of the main defendants in the “Khorgos case” Talgat KAIRBAYEV and Bakhyt OTARBAYEV in the dungeons of the capital’s pretrial detention center.

As it turned out in court, they were beaten until they lost consciousness by the PSN (special forces unit) of the financial police, and they were commanded by the then head of the special department of the ABEKP Ulan MADIEV. This was directly stated by his subordinate Talgat ABDRAKHMANOV, and this was indirectly confirmed by another former financial police officer Kasym ABUBIKIROV. The suspects were “periodically strangled by placing a plastic bag over their heads, which continued for several hours, and Kairbaev T. N. and Otarbaev B. A. were subjected to numerous random blows to the bodies of Kairbaev T. N. and Otarbaev B. A. with their feet and hands.”

We will not dwell on the forced confessions - our newspaper writes about this regularly. What is important is that, according to the conclusion of the forensic psychological and psychiatric examination, after the interrogation with partiality, Kairbaev and Otarbaev showed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, prolonged psychological trauma in the form of severe depression and a high level of anxiety. According to forensic experts, this is a typical reaction to torture.

Another important detail for justice came to light: the paramedic of SI-12, having noticed bruises and abrasions on Kairbaev and Otarbaev, refused to accept them into the cells. But Talgat Abdrakhmanov resolved the issue with her superiors with one phone call. Moreover, the paramedic did not enter in her log the presence of bodily injuries on the prisoners.

On June 14, 2011, Kairbaev was taken to the reception room of the then head of the financial police, Kairat KOZHAMZHAROV. In his office were another high-ranking anti-corruption fighter, Talgat TATUBAEV, and Madiyev. As Kairbaev testified in court, in their presence, “the chairman of the ABEKP, Kozhamzharov K.P., told him to say everything the way the latter told him to. At the same time, Kozhamzharov K.P. said that he (Kairbaev) and his accomplices were not needed by the financial police, they were interested in the employees of the KNB, Zhakaev T.O. and Abdrakhmanov I.B., who used to work well, but then went astray.”

Fearing for their lives and the lives of their families, both defendants subsequently slandered KNB officers Talgat ZHAKAYEV, Irlan ABDRAKHMANOV, Bakhytbek KURMANALIEV and the former head of the Almaty Region Customs Department Kurmanbek ARTYKBAYEV. The text of the confession, as Kairbayev specifically noted, “was prepared and provided to him before the interrogation by Madiyev.” By the way, during the investigation, another head of the Khorgos investigative team, Sergei POTANIN, who was interrogated as a witness with the right to defense, did not confirm Kairbayev’s testimony about torture and his confession prepared in advance. But General Tatubayev, who is still just a witness in the case, partially confirmed the words of Kairbayev and Otarbayev, including the fact of an audience with Kozhamzharov.

Another witness, former deputy chairman of the financial police Rustam IBRAIMOV, also confirmed that “the delivery on 11.6.2011 of the accused Kairbaev T.N. and Otarbaev B.A. from the UAE to Astana was on the personal instructions of the chairman of the ABEKP Kozhamzharov K.P.”

And in early December 2023, the leadership of the MSOG, which was investigating the torture case, repeatedly received petitions from lawyer Asylbek ABDRAIMOV to be allowed to defend Talgat Abdrakhmanov. But he said that he was not familiar with Abdraimov and had not signed an agreement with him, and besides, the former financial police officer was already defended by his own lawyer. Abdrakhmanov's wife M. ELEUSIZOVA told the investigation that lawyer Abdraimov had repeatedly called her and said that Talgat had hired him. However, later, when meeting with her husband at the prosecutor's office, Eleusizova found out that her husband had not signed any agreements with this lawyer. She does not know why lawyer Abdraimov so badly wanted to be her husband's lawyer without any agreement. Eleusizova believes that all this is connected with her husband's work, his former bosses from the financial police are trying to influence him.

“Taking into account the above, the investigative body believes that unknown interested persons attempted to influence the suspect Abdrakhmanov T.A. and his giving truthful testimony in the case with the aim of preventing an objective investigation of the criminal case against Madiyev U.U. and others” - a quote from the materials of the criminal case on torture.

As for the fate of another head of the MSOG for the first "Khorgos" Ulugbek PATSAYEV, the Prosecutor General's Office has its own opinion, although he once served there. "Patsayev U.K., without taking the measures provided by law for a comprehensive, complete and objective resolution of the case, without checking the involvement of the employees of the ABEKP, the management of the DUIS for the city of Astana and SI-12 in the serious crime committed, made a procedural decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case, thereby illegally removing them from the orbit of criminal prosecution" - this is stated in the conclusion of the supervisory body. And this is about those who are today brought to trial on charges of repeated torture by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

The Prosecutor General's Office will issue a legal assessment of Patsayev's actions after the court verdict on Madiyev, Abdrakhmanov, Abubikirov and the former deputy head of the capital's DUIS Bekbolat MEIRAMBEKOV.

Instead of P.S. The defendants' lawyers insistently ask each witness to speak only about torture and not to recall the details of the first "Khorgos". This makes it easier for them to build a line of defense. But without the first "Khorgos" there would be no case of torture, falsifications, contract killing of a key witness. Without the first there would be no second "Khorgos" - both cases are so closely intertwined with each other that it is impossible to separate them in principle.

Tokhniyaz KUCHUKOV, photo by Vladimir ZAIKIN, Almaty

Topics:

• The Khorgos Affair. Continuation