A representative of the victim attacked journalists at the trial in Almaty

On June 1, the military garrison court in Almaty convened to hear the case of Serikbol Muratkan, who was accused in the death of Elnar Kanseyitov. The Qazaq Times reporter Kultegin Aspanuly and cameraman Didar Kaliev were covering the hearings and taking video with the judge's permission. Judge Yerlan Ibraimov did not impose any restrictions on taking video during the hearings.

Towards the end of the court session, Abidkhali Zhumanov, a representative of Zhanseit Tuymebaev (the father of the deceased), physically attacked the journalists. He forcefully grabbed the journalist's mobile phone and threw the camera to the ground. Later, in the court corridor, he aggressively demanded that the journalist stop taking video, even though the journalist was not recording at that moment. Zhumanov injured the second journalist's finger and damaged his equipment.

According to Kultegin Aspanuly, the entire incident was captured by cameras inside the courthouse.
The media team attempted to call the police on the emergency number 102 several times, but no assistance arrived for two hours. In the evening, the journalists decided to go to the Bostandyk District Police Department.

"We had to speak with at least eight police officers. The process of filing the application took 3.5 hours. Major Berik Kapasov, Deputy Head of the Bostandyk District Police Department for Rapid Response, assured us that the matter would be handled according to the law and that our application would be forwarded to the on-duty inspector. Eventually, our application was accepted, and a referral for a forensic medical examination was issued," explained Kultegin Aspanuly to Adil Soz.

Both the journalist and the cameraman demanded that a criminal case be opened under Part 2 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan – interfering with the legal professional activities of a journalist.
"In our application, we specifically requested the investigation under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. However, the case was referred to Nurseit Zhanysbay, an inspector at the Bostandyk District Police Department, under Part 1 of Article 73-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Kazakhstan. I underwent a medical examination, but the results are not yet available. The police have requested the videos from the courtroom, which captures the moment of the attack," stated Kultegin Aspanuly.