Trial in the action of ex-finance minister Zeinulla Kakimzhanov to the Internet portal Ratel.kz will begin on 16 January

On December 29, 2016 editors office of  Internet portal Ratel.kz received pre-trial claim from the ex-minister of finance and state revenue Zeinulla Kakimzhanov. He demanded retraction of 9 articles  published on the site from May to December 2016 and deleting them from the site. In particular, Z. Kakimzhanov demanded retraction of the following articles: "How Zeinulla Kakimzhanov’s family went to aviation" (published on 20/05/16), "Under the roof of his clan" (published on 14/07/16), "The price of Kakimzhanov family ambitions" (published on 28/07/16), "Rider for raider" (published on 25/08/16),  " Zeinulla Kakimzhanov’s clan blocked "Nurly Zhol" (published on 10/06/16), "Zeinulla Kakimzhanov: see you in court, or in a cafe" (published on 12/10/16), "Trademark fraud" (published on 10/20/16), "Why Zeinulla Kakimzhanov is so lucky" (published on 16/12/16) and "The peasant, sensing  triumph, renews a highway" (published on 12/26/16).

In early January  Z.Kakimzhanov  file the lawsuit to Medeu District Court of Almaty not even waiting for the end of 30-day time limit for responding to the pre-trial claim. In addition to retraction and removal of articles the plaintiffs Zeinulla Kakimzhanov and Ilhalid Kakimzhanov, demanded redress for the non-pecuniary damage: from the chief editor of the portal Marat Asipov and journalist Sapa Mekebaev - 2 million tenge,  from journalist Gennady Benditskiy - 6 million tenge, from the former general director of LLP "Avtodorservis" Vitaly Protsentov - 5 million tenge, from the publisher  LLP "ITAYU" - 6 million tenge.

On January, 11 Judge T.Zhumamuratov issued a ruling to secure the claim. He prohibited the defendants “to cover the trial in media by drawing attention of  media, television, journalists, submitting publications in the media, television, relating to file a civil lawsuit, as well as placement other information in the media (television, online publication, etc.) conjugated inseparably with the personality of the plaintiffs of the suit, as well as the placement of articles, publications in mass media, owned by the defendants on the property right, using its own or third-party web sites, including publication of articles or their views on the trial in social networks, including, but not limited to Facebook, VKontakte and other defendants’ blogs pending the court's final decision on the statement of claim. "

The defendants have filed a complaint to the General Prosecutor of Kazakhstan demanding to make a protest on the ruling of Medeu District Court of Almaty, saying it contains 12 violations of legal acts (laws and codes of Kazakhstan, international documents, ratified by Kazakhstan and decisions of the Supreme Court).

The editorial staff of Internet portal Ratel.kz announced its righteousness and intends to prove it in court.

The first hearing is scheduled for 16.30 on January 16 in Medeu District Court of Almaty.