A court in Kazakhstan softened the fate of Nazarbayev’s nephew: “Unreasonably lenient sentence”

Justice is demanded to “come to its senses”

The ex-president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, is being systematically deprived of all his privileges. This time, ensuring its security was removed from the duties of the National Security Committee of the Republic (KNB). The situation of Elbasy’s relatives is no better. The nephew and former first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan, Samat Abish, was sentenced to 8 years of suspended imprisonment in the case of the events of “bloody” January.

Samat Abish is the nephew of Nursultan Nazarbayev. He worked as the first deputy chairman of the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan. On January 17, 2022, it became known that Abish was dismissed from his post. However, the investigation into him became known only a year later.

The court found him guilty of abuse of power during the January events and sentenced him to eight years of probation. The hearings were held behind closed doors.

“The defendant fully admitted his guilt and sincerely repented. By a court verdict, A. was found guilty of committing a crime under Article 362, Part 4 of the Criminal Code, and sentenced to 8 years in prison with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions for a period of 10 years. Based on Article 63 of the Criminal Code, it was decided to consider the imposed sentence suspended,” the court added.

The court recognized the presence of young children of the defendant and his sincere repentance as mitigating circumstances; aggravating circumstances were not established.

Residents of Kazakhstan are outraged by the sentence, which, in their opinion, is “too lenient.” “Apparently, they don’t have the courage to close it,” write social media users. They are convinced that Abish is a state traitor and deserves a more severe punishment.

President of the Eurasian Expert Council Foundation, political scientist Chingiz Lepsibaev, in a conversation with MK, also called the sentence “unreasonably lenient”:

“This is too lenient a sentence for high treason and organizing a rebellion.” We hoped he would be sentenced to at least 15 years. But in fact it turned out that he was released from the courtroom.

But I think that this is not the last thing in his regard. I am sure that we will see him behind bars again, since more than one case is connected with his name. We will wait for the justice to come to its senses and reconsider the decision in this case in the direction of its real significance for our citizens.

– What is the reason for such a lenient sentence?

– First of all, with his last name. Yes, other relatives of Nazarbayev received more adequate punishment, but they were not the owners of state secrets. Of course, there is an element of politics here.

I think we’ll hear a lot more about him. Moreover, he is under recognizance not to leave.