In the South-Kazakhstan region a veteran demands from the journalist of the newspaper Saryagash half a million tenge

In the Saryagash District Court of the South Kazakhstan region court hearings started on the lawsuit of a veteran of Saryagash district S.Agaidarov against journalist Z.Kambarova on protection of honor, dignity and reputation and compensation for moral harm.

The reason for the suit was the article "Kairan Keles" ("Miserable Keles"), published in the regional socio-political newspaper Saryagash on November 18, 2016 (No. 52 (11549), in which the journalist raised the question of the poor ecological state of the Keles River. As stated in the article, quarry operations resulted in river banks caving, stream-bank erosion, floods and flooding of cultivated areas, wildwoods, and death of domestic animals in free standing quarry pits.

While working on the article the journalist referred to the complaints of residents of the village nearby to the river. Together with the authors the letter to the editor she visited the place of ecological disaster, photographed the place of quarry operations and the quarry equipment and even talked  to the veteran S.Agaidarov in the presence of many witnesses. S.Agaidarov complained about the unethical behavior of the deputy of Saryagash district maslikhat (local executive body) Zhanibek Suleimenov who said to him that "it is not good for an aqsakal (patriarch) at such an old age to be interested in the situation with forest lands".

After that the meeting of veterans council of the district was called to discuss the published article "Miserable Keles". It should be noted that the chairman of the veterans council Mustapa Suleimenov is the father of the district maslikhat deputy Zh. Suleimenov. After the meeting Smankul Agaidarov filed a lawsuit  and demand to refute the published information about the deputy’s words  and to compensate moral damage in the amount of 500 000 tenge .