Court in Karkaralinsk: not an insult, but an opinion

Karkaraly district court No. 2 of Karaganda region, presided by judge Sh.T. Zhamankulova acquitted the accused E.Zh. Toleutay on a procedural appeal of K.M. Maksutov against defamation (Article 130 of Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and insult ( Article 131 of Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

Erbolat Toleutay, a resident of Karkaraly, wrote a post “Nadan әkim” (“Ignorant Akim”) on his Facebook page, expressing his bewilderment at the decision of the district akim K. Maksutov to erect a monument to Kunanbay-kazhi and Abay-child in a dead end near the mosque. Akim K. Maksutov - the accuser and the aggrieved rolled into one  - considered the expression “nadan” an insult in indecent form and demanded to recover 5,000,000 tenge from E. Toleutay as non-pecuniary damage.

Accused E. Toleutay challenged the judge of the Karkaraly district court E. Boranbaev because of numerous violations of his rights, as he believed.

The case was send to court No. 2 in the village of Egindybulak to judge Sh.T. Zhamankulova.

On the trial the party of charge dismissed the defamation charge (Article 130 of Part 2), insisting on the  insult charge.

Expert study of E. Toleutay's post and the professional conclusion of the specialist of the Public Center of Examination of Information Disputes of the "Adil Soz" Foundation were conducted. Based on the analysis presented, the judge came to the conclusion that the word “nadan” (ignorant) is the author's opinion, expressed within the frameworks of the literary norms.