Journalist exploded a fake and was summoned for interrogation

On February 1, journalist and blogger Zhenis Kuspan received a summons from the investigator of the Baikonyr district of Nur-Sultan st. lieutenant Asylbek Rysmakhanbetov. The summons said that he had  to appear at police station to be interrogated as a witness in a criminal case  at 3 PM on the same day.

The day before, on January 30, Kuspan saw in one of the WhatsApp groups a video showing the marching police that was allegedly singing the national anthem and shouting “Shal ket!” (Old man, leave! - a slogan used by protesters against ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayaev). Zhenis Kuspan immediately wrote in the group: “It's a Tiktoker's joke and the sound is superimposed!”. He posted the video on his Facebook page, emphasising  that it was a fake and people should not believe that.

“I often so this when I see questionable content so that people were aware of what they are dissiminating.  I took FACT-CHECKING courses and often post such videos on my Facebook page with comments so that people also pay attention to that! And this time I wrote: “TikTok pranksterterinin oilap tappaytyndary zhok)))”. That means : “What  jokes TikTokers can invent,” Kuspan said.

However, he soon received a warning comment from Elmira Shaulenova, an employee of the press service of the Nur-Sultan Police Department, warning him about liability: “ criminal liability is imposed for the dissemination of knowingly false information by act of law.”

The journalist believes that the video was the grounds of the summons for interrogation.

So far, the journalist has not been able to appear at the police, as he is in home quarantine due to a positive test for coronavirus and he  warned the investigator about that.