Court session in Zhanbolat Mamay’s case: The first day

The first hearing in the case of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Tribuna-Sayasi Kalam” Zhanbolata Mamay tookplace on August 18.

The prosecutor read out the indictment that said that Ablyazov was transferring money to Kazakhstan to finance publishing of Zh. Mamay’s newspaper. Then the questioning of witnesses began.

The first one was a bank employee who was not able to clearly exlplain what damage the journalist could have done to the bank.

The second witness was Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov - former deputy chairman of the board of BTA Bank, extradited to Kazakhstan from Turkey in January 2017 as a bonnet of the former head of BTA Bank, opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov. Zharimbetov actively cooperated with the investigation and was put on probation in June.

Zharimbetov stated that M. Ablyazov rented a safety-deposit box in Almaty to his name so that he would be able to hand over the money. He was not able to give a clear answer to the question if he knew what the money were for. "No, but I guessed that, apparently, the money were for publication of the newspaper, because they were handed over to Mamay” he said.

Later Zharimbetov sponsored the newspaper himself, because he respected Zhanbolat and believed that there should be independent media in the country.

When asked by lawyers to specify how much money Ablyazov spent on the newspaper, and how much he did, he could not give an answer and requested the prosecutor to ask him leading questions. The prosecutor asked if  Zharimbetov knew that this money was embezzled he cound not answer because he did not know.

The third witness was Zharimbetov’s sister. She said that she got acquainted with Zhanbolat in January 2017, when her brother disappeared. She applied to Mamay to help her find good lawyers. Later, she coped with that problem herself and did not meet Mamay again.

When asked if she gave the money to someone, she replied that she had hanede over $20 thousand from her safety deposit box for four or five times, but she did not know the receiver. The brother left her money for possible spending.

It should be noted that at the pre-trial that took plac on August 14, the judge granted the lawyers' motion  for more spacious room for the court hearing. Broadcasting of the hearings to another room was provided for journalists and observers. However, the qualityof the sound was so poor that it was extremely difficult to understand what was being said.

The next court session will be held on August 21 at 3 pm in the same Medeu District Court No. 2 in Almaty.