Board of Appeals of Astana city court has upheld the basic punishment for Matayevs

The Appeal Board dismissed the complaint of Matayevs and their advocates.

Appeals board of Astana City Court dismissed the appeals of Kazakhstan Journalists' Union chairman Seitkazy Matayev, Director General of news agency KazTAG Aset Matayev, defenders Bayan Ramazanova and Asel Mamyrkalieva, lawyers Madina Bakiyeva and Andrey Petrov and upheld the verdict of Esil district court №2 of Astana, KazTAG reports.

This Appeals Board also dismissed the motion tolift an attachment of property. The term of the supplementary punishment of deprivation of right to hold executive posts, related to organization-distribution and materially responsible functions in the state and commercial organizations was changed from lifetime to 10 years.

Appeal hearings began on 5 December 2016, the decision was announced on 9 December 2016.

The Court of first instance sentenced Seitkazy Matayev to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to occupy executive positions, Aset Matayev - to 5 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of the right to occupy executive positions.