Why was the trial against thirteen civil activists interrupted ?

On 22 September 2021, the twelfth online trial against political prisoners and civil activists took place in Almaty.

The trial was interrupted after:

1. Demands to show the decision of the Yesil District Court to ban the DCK and “Koshe Partiyasy” movements.

The activists demanded to start the trial with the decision of the Yesil court, as without the ruling banning the movements the judge cannot continue the process on a legal level. Since this is the 12th court session, no ruling to ban the DCK and “Koshe Partiyasy” has been shown during this time, the defendant activists said that they would refuse to participate in the trial if they were not given a ruling.

Prosecutor Dastan #MYRZAGALIYEV began threatening the activists that he would apply for a change of preventive measure for the activists in the form of the arrest in the pre-trial detention facility if they allegedly «deliberately delayed the process» (although it is the prosecutor who delayed the process by not providing court decisions banning “Koshe Partiyasy” and the DCK).

2. Marat #KURBANOV‘S exit from online court hearing.

One of the illegally accused activists reasonably left the trial as he does not agree with the fact that the trial is taking place without the main document (the decision of the Yesil court).

In response, Judge KASYMBEKOV sanctioned the bench warrant for Marat KURBANOV to the court hearing on 23 September.

Between 27 July and 22 September 2021, thirteen activists demanded that the decisions of the Yesil District Court be provided to them, but 12 court hearings have already taken place, which were constantly postponed due to absence of these rulings, confirming a political motive for the prosecution.

Also, on 22 September, political prisoner Askhat ZHEKSEBAYEV asked the judge to read a copy of the decision with a QR-code (a barcode taped through which a sample of the original can be read), but the judge refused the request. Since this copy was obtained by the activists during the first appeals back in 2020 as the basis of an open criminal case, why won’t the Prosecutor’s Office provide the court with this copy?

Due to the refusal to ask the prosecutor this question, due to the refusal of the judge to read a copy of the decision of the Yesil court, and also due to the failure to provide the court rulings to ban the «DCK» and «Koshe Partiyasy», political prisoner Noyan RAHIMZHANOV filed a motion to stop the political criminal case, release the activists from criminal prosecution, pay them compensation and also compensate the time the five activists illegally spent in prison.

Камилла Садирова