Kazakh journalist Makhambet Abzhan sentenced to 9 years in prison

On February 3, Aizhan Kulbayeva,  judge of the Astana specialized inter-district court for criminal cases, announced the sentence to the founder of the ABZHAN NEWS Telegram channel Makhambet Abzhan: 9 years in prison.

The prosecutor's office requested to sentence Abzhan to 11 years in prison in an emergency security facility.

According to the prosecution, Abzhan extorted 50 million tenge from businessman Rashit Makhat, threatening to disseminate defamatory information about him.

On January 6, judge Aizhan Kulbayeva granted the petition of K. Duysekin, the representative of R. Makhat. She announced that the trial would be held behind closed doors. K. Duysekin said that since Abzhan’s Telegram channel has more than 11.5 thousand subscribers, so the disclosure of information related to the businessman could threaten his safety.

Abzhan's lawyer Tolegen Shaikov believed that the sentence would be much less severe.

“Two expert studies were held on charges under 194 part 4, item 2 of the Criminal code (Extortion). One was made by order of the investigator, the other one at the request of the defense. Both concluded that there was no evidence of a threat as a prerequisite for extortion. As for the charges under Article 274 of the Criminal code - dissemination of deliberately false information - there was no damage as such, no money was paid anywhere by anyone, ”said Tolegen Shaikov. He reminded of Abzhan’s mitigating circumstance – he is a father of small children. The lawyer expected acquittal on charges of extortion and a year and a half in prison on charges of disseminating knowingly false information.

As it was reported, Makhambet Abzhan was detained early in the morning on July 3, 2022 in Nur-Sultan (Astana) and on July 5, 2022 court arrested him for 2 months on suspicion of grand extortion. Observers believed that the journalist had been “set up” judging by the way the money was passed to Abzhan, the extremely prompt press release of the Anti-Corruption Service and immediate articles in certain media disclosing the details of the case.