Investigation of impeding professional activities of journalist Oleg Gusev continues

The criminal case on impeding professional activities of  journalist Oleg Gusev was sent for pre-trial investigation to the police of the Karaganda region

The case of impeing professional activities of journalist Oleg Gusev has been under investigation in the Karaganda region since 2018.

As it was reported, in October 2018 at the court hearings on protection of honor and digninty of Arcelor Mittal Temirtau against Oleg Gusev the journalist presented an agreement between him and the company. According to the document, the journalist had to fully acknowledge the claims and stop publishing any negative information on AMT activities. The company in response undertook to “unblock” the contracting firm, where the journalist’s relative worked. Oleg Gusev considered that to be a blackmail and posted the corresponding statement on Facebook. Police officers of the Karaganda region found that statement while monitoring the social network, and started a criminal case under part 2 of article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Interfering wiht the legitimate professional activities of a journalist committed by a person using his official position).

In January of this year, part 2 of this article was reclassified to part 1, and the file was closed.

Oleg Gusev appealed the decision to dismiss the case. On March 11, a new ruling was issued - to resume the investigation. On June 29, 2019, investigator of the criminal investigation office of the Karaganda Region Police Department N. Amanzholov decided to drop the criminal proceedings under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Interfering with the Journalist's Legal Professional Activities” due to the lack of corpus delicti in the actions of the Arcelor Mittal Temirtau official.

On August 14, the regional prosecutor's office reversed denial and sent the criminal case for pre-trial investigation to the Police Department of the Karaganda region. The prosecution has taken charge in the investigation.