Adil Soz Foundation considers sentence against former Orda.kz editor-in-chief Bazhkenova excessively harsh

Today, Almaty’s Bostandyk District Court No. 2 handed down its verdict against former Orda.kz head Gulnar Bazhkenova. She was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, with the sentence deferred for two years, and was also banned from working in her profession for five years.

Bazhkenova was charged under three provisions of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

1. Paragraph 2 of Part 2 of Article 214 of the Criminal Code — illegal entrepreneurship involving the receipt of income on an especially large scale;

2. Paragraph 2 of Part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code — misappropriation or embezzlement of another person’s property committed by an organised group or on an especially large scale;

3. Paragraph 1 of Part 2 of Article 274 of the Criminal Code — dissemination of knowingly false information through mass media or telecommunications networks. Bazhkenova was charged with eight separate counts under this provision.

A total of 11 individuals and organisations were granted victim status in the criminal case. They included Maksat Ganiyev, the majority co-founder and director of OrdaMedia.kz LLP; representatives of the national companies Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC and KazMunayGas JSC; former Deputy Prosecutor of Almaty Nurlan Auganbayev; as well as several businesspeople and private individuals. The total amount claimed in civil lawsuits and the alleged property damage exceeded 100 million tenge.

The court effectively imposed the sentence sought by the prosecutor for Bazhkenova on 14 August: eight years’ imprisonment on the combined charges and a five-year ban on working in her profession.

“We are deeply concerned by the sentence handed down against Gulnar Bazhkenova. Such a severe punishment — eight years’ imprisonment, even with the sentence deferred, as well as a five-year ban on professional and public activities — once again sets an extremely dangerous precedent for Kazakhstan’s entire media sector. The Adil Soz Foundation calls on the higher courts to review the verdict,” said Nazira Darimbet, President of the Adil Soz Foundation.