Journalist Sania Toyken fined for 20 Monthly Calculation Index for police disobedience

The journalist Sania Toyken, who was detained on the night of March 12, 2019 in the Zhanaozen cafe during a dinner with her friends, must pay a fine of 20 Monthly Calculation Index (1 MCI - 2525 tenge) for disobeying a lawful order or request of a police officer.

Such a decision was made by a specialized administrative court of the city of Zhanaozen, that found her guilty of committing an offense under Art. 667 of the Administrative Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.  Azattyk’s editors have not been able to find out what exact disobedience  took place. As it was reported, S.Toyken and her friends, had dinner in a separate compartment of the cafe. When they were going out they were detained by the police under the pretext of being witnesses of a quarrel that took place in the cafe. The police ignored  the journalist'sarguments that they did not hear anything and even did not have the physical capacity to see anything . Sania Toyken was held in the police station for all night and was brought to the administrative court at about dinner time, where at 14.30 PM the court ruled  that she violated the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Sania Toyken arrived in Zhanaozen on February 26 together with a video operator. On the assignement of the editorial board and because of their professional duty, they covered the situation with the  local residents's demands to solve employment problems. Toyken was making live broadcastings of the events.