Trial on attempted murder of Amangeldy Batyrbekov: the end is coming

Trial on the attempted murder of the editor of the online newspaper "Saryagash-Inform" Amangeldy Batyrbekov presided by judge K.Kalmagambetov continues in the Turkestan regional specialized criminal court.

Five defendants are put on trial. According to the prosecution, they are assassin's paymaster, intermediaries and hired killers. They did not deny at trial that they bought weapon and rounds, stole a car and came to the journalist’s house in order to identify the victim from social networks photographs .

Neither the defendants denied that they received money for their “services”. According to them, they received a deposit of 5 million tenge, but were confused about for the final amount promised to them. Initially, during the investigation, a much larger figure was mentioned, but later the defendants changed their testimony.

Debates and the last word of the defendants are scheduled for October 18 and 20.

As it was reported, the attempted murder of the journalist took place on the night of January 4 in the city of Saryagash.  Unidentified people opened fire near the house of the editor of the newspaper "Saryagash info" and wounded Batyrbekov's son Dinmukhamed.

Amangeldy Batyrbekov believed that the attack was caused by his professional activities. He regularly publishes articles disclosing local officials in the Saryagash-Inform newspaper. In their turn officials  demonized him. On September 23, 2019, the Saryagash district court of the Turkestan region sentenced Amangeldy Batyrbekov to two years and 3 months in prison, finding him guilty of slander and insult. On January 9, 2020, the court of appeal acquitted him.