Investigative actions completed in Azamat Omarov’s case

On 12 August, it became known that the investigative actions in the criminal case against journalist Azamat Omarov, author of the YouTube channel "Akhual Segodnya", had been completed.

Omarov was arrested on 18 July. An Astana court ordered that he be held in pre-trial detention for two months as a suspect under Article 174 of the Criminal Code, which establishes liability for inciting social, national, racial or religious discord. According to Omarov’s lawyer, Tolegen Shaikov, the case is based on videos in which the journalist made satirical and critical remarks about the authorities.

Azamat’s family and lawyers are now waiting to be given access to the case materials. Tolegen Shaikov has filed a motion asking the court to change the journalist’s preventive measure from pre-trial detention to house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Azamat Omarov’s wife, Venera Mustafina, has also drawn attention to a series of suspicious incidents involving their family and legal representatives in recent months.

In particular, lawyer Tolegen Shaikov’s Facebook account, which he had actively maintained for more than ten years, was blocked without any apparent reason.

On 2 June, an incident involving property damage occurred in the parking area of the Omarov family’s residence, where an unidentified man slashed three tyres on the car belonging to the journalist’s father. It later emerged that the perpetrator was a temporarily unemployed resident of Taraz who had travelled to the capital and allegedly committed the offence “on a dare.” He received only an administrative penalty because the amount of damage was considered minor.

On 10 June, a month and a half before his formal arrest, Azamat was involved in an incident that, according to his family, bore a suspicious resemblance to what later happened to Dinara Yegeubayeva. Omarov was summoned to the police over an alleged collision with a cyclist who fell near him while the journalist was simply walking down the street. He was held at the police station for about an hour, but officers neither showed him any video footage nor brought in the alleged “victim.” Media reports later stated that the dispute had been “resolved,” but the family never received any official documents regarding the incident.

Venera Mustafina draws a direct parallel between the June incident involving a cyclist and Azamat Omarov and the criminal prosecution of Dinara Yegeubayeva, whose criminal case and travel ban were likewise triggered by a traffic incident involving a cyclist.

The International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz” views the criminal prosecution of Azamat Omarov, the blocking of his lawyer’s online resources, and the series of unexplained and unusual incidents involving the journalist’s family as part of a single chain of events showing signs of systematic pressure on independent media and civil society activists.

Ahead of the upcoming elections, the level of administrative, procedural and psychological pressure on Kazakhstan’s independent media has reached a critical point. The use of criminal charges, disproportionate preventive measures and indirect methods of intimidation obstructs journalists in carrying out their professional duties and undermines constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression.

The Adil Soz Foundation calls on law enforcement authorities to provide an objective legal assessment of all the incidents described above, consider the motion to change Azamat Omarov’s preventive measure to house arrest, and ensure full respect for journalists’ rights in Kazakhstan.