Guilty verdict in the case of interfering with Khabar 24 journalists’ activity remains in force

On March 20, the appellate board of the North Kazakhstan Regional Court dismissed the appeal of Sultan Sagandykov, head of the security service of the DostykMall shopping and entertainment center, and his representatives against the guilty verdict in the case of interfering with the legal professional activities of Khabar 24 TV journalists.

“The Judicial Board ruled: the verdict of the Petropavlovsk City Court of the North Kazakhstan Region dated February 8, 2023 against Sagandykov Sultan should be left unchanged, the appeal should be dismissed,” the judge said, announcing the decision.

In addition, the court ruled that Sagandykov should reimburse the victims Natalia Volkova, Samat Dzhakupov and Tolegen Imanov 50,000 tenge each for the services of their lawyer.

The decision of the court entered into force at the time of its pronouncement.

Litigation has been going on since October 2022. On August 2, 2021 Khabar 24 TV team was covering work of ASHIQ (COVID-19 prevention system) in the Dostyk Mall shopping and entertainment center.  DostykMall security guards forcibly escorted the journalists out of the building. Samat Dzhakupov, Natalya Volkova and cameraman Tolegen Imanov filed a complaint with the police. Criminal investigation under Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Interfering of the legal professional activities of a journalist) was dropped for several times and launched again after complaints filed by journalists.

As a result, the charge was brought against Sultan Sagandykov, the head of the security service of the mall. On February 8, 2023, he was found guilty under Part 2 of Art. 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan – using official position to interfere with legal professional activities of journalists by creating conditions that prevented journalists from performing their legal professional activities and damaging their to property. The court sentenced him to 1 year of restriction of freedom. In addition, Sagandykov must pay a forced payment of 10 MCI (29,170 tenge) to the victims' compensation fund.

On the basis of the law "On amnesty in connection with the thirtieth anniversary of the Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan", Sultan Sagandykov was released from the main punishment.