Investigation of interference with work of journalists was dropped for the fourth time

In Petropavlovsk the pre-trial investigation of a criminal case for interefing with the legal professional activities of journalists of Khabar-24 TV channel was dropped for the fourth time.

“The police quietly dropped the case on April 4 under Article 35, Part 1, Clause 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Kazakhstan - due to the absence of a criminal event. They even didn't tell me anything. Well, the score is 2 : 2 Two times the case was dropped by the prosecutor's office, twice by the police. I have already got used to this Yo-Yo. I wonder what will be the final score, or this lawlessness is endless. How much can you bring the score to, eh, Prosecutor’s Office of the Nothern Kazakhstan Region?” Tolegen Imanov, the affected cameraman of the Khabar 24 TV channel, wrote on Facebook.

As it was reported Samat Dzhakupov and Natalya Volkova, the journalists from the North Kazakhstan branch of the editorial office of the Khabar24 TV channel,  and cameraman Tolegen Imanov lodge a statement with the police. On August 2, 2021, security officers of the Dostyk Mall shopping center pushed them  out of the building. The   TV team was covering  functioning the ASHIQ program (that identifies COVID-19 status) in the Dostyk Mall.

The criminal investigation that had been initiated in August 2021 was dropped twice. The first time it was dropped on November 1, 2021 due to the lack of corpus delicti under Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstanin the actions of security officers  “since they were performing their professional duties.”

The investigation was resumed  on November 2 "upon newly discovered evidence " after police watched the  video of the incident that  journalists provided together with the  statement and that was then lost by the police.

At the end of December last year, journalists received a notice signed by the deputy head of the Police Department of Petropavlovsk, Police Major A. Akhmedyarov that the investigation was dropped on the basis of Art. 35 h. 1 c. 2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Republic of Kazakhstan due to the lack of  corpus delicti.

The prosecutor's office of Petropavlovsk agreed with the investigator's decision. However, it turned out that the prosecutors were unable to study the main piece of evidence, the video file, because they could not play it on computer. They informed the reporters about this in early March.

After a public appeal by the employees of the editorial office of the Khabar TV channel, the Petropavlovsk prosecutor's office announced that the decision to drop the pre-trial investigation was canceled and the case was sent to the Petropavlovsk City Police Department for additional investigation.