Journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov arrested for 15 days

Today, the Specialized Court for Administrative Offenses in Uralsk issued a decision on the administrative arrest of journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov for 15 days. The court found him guilty of organizing an unsanctioned rally. The journalist pleaded not guilty and said that he had not organized any rally. He came to Manshuk Mametova Square just to make sure that an event was taking place there. Akhmedyarov had applied for a permission for rally for the same date and place. Akimat (mayor’s office) had denied the request since another event had been planned there. Akhmedyarov made a short speech at the event with the permission of the organizer.

- I really intended to hold a peaceful rally on this square on April 9th, - said Akhmedyarov. – In accordance with the law I filed two applications for a peaceful rally. The first was rejected because, the Department of Internal Affairs believed I did not provide all the necessary data. The next day I filed the request with all necessary additions and it was rejected again. This time the reason was that  youth NGO “ Gasyr ” had already requested that place and time for holding an event. It should be noted that “Gasyr”s request was less detailed than my first request. However, according to Mr. Kushekov, the head of the domestic policy department, their request satisfied all the demands.

- I went on the stage and gave a short speech. I called on the youth to comply with the laws of our country. And nothing else. Moreover, when the head of the domestic policy department Yerbol Kushekov told me to stop my speech, I immediately stopped it and left the stage. Those. I abided by the law in full, - said Lukpan Akhmedyarov.

After listening to all the arguments of Akhmedyarov and his lawyer Gabdualiyev , Judge Khalykov did not go into the deliberation room. He announced the decision right after the speech of the lawyer.

As it was reported,  today law enforcement forces tried to detain journalist and civil activist Lukpan Akhmedyarov. They did not succeed and the police officers demanded that Lukpan go to the city police department. Lukpan did that, accompanied by a police car.

The journalist believes that his detention is caused by his planned trip to Zhanaozen to report on the situation in the city.
Lukpan Akhmedyarov publishes videos on his YouTube channel “Prosto Zhurnalistika”, telling about important events taking place in the country.