The Matayevs' case: will there be a triumph of justice ?

Lawyer Dzhokhar Utebekov shared good news - the Prosecutor General's Office filed a protest against the verdict against Seitkazy Matayev, the chairman of the Union of Journalists of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the president of the National Press Club,  and Asset Matayev, the general director of the international news agency KazTAG. Heraings at the Supreme Court are supposed to be held in the next two weeks.

As it was reported, on October 3, 2016, Seitkazy Matayev was sentenced to six years in prison, and Aset Mataev was sentenced to five years in prison on economic crimes charges. Both of them did not plead guilty, and rebuted alll charges. A number of national and international journalistic and human rights organizations considered the criminal prosecution and the court verdict to be  politically motivated. Seitkazy was released on parole in December 2017, Aset was released in March 2018.

Since then, all petitions for reversal of the criminal case were rejected  by the highest courts. “I should admit that there are certain changes in the socio-political situation of the country. Sure some positive changes were caused by judiciary reform, but to a much greater extent it is the result of changes in the political situation. Earlier Seitkazy Matayev had announced the names of his enemies before the court. And we all saw the fall of those people recently,” Dzhokhar Utebekov commented on the protest of the Prosecutor General’s Office.