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| OSDP AZAT / Activity / In the Media / 28.07.2006 - Bulat Abilov Says the Sentence Is Politically Motivated |
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| 28.07.2006 - Bulat Abilov Says the Sentence Is Politically Motivated |
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Cochairman of the “True Ak Zhol” party Bulat Abilov is sentenced to three years of conditional imprisonment with two years of probation period by the Temirtau City Court. He is not allowed to leave Kazakhstan. Opposition politician was accused of insult and attack on a police officer, lieutenant colonel Dmitriyev. Abilov says the sentence, trial and criminal case on the whole are politically motivated.
According to Abilov, events that had preceded the criminal case took place almost one year ago during the agitation meeting of the oppositionist with the residents of Aktau village (Karaganda region). The prosecutors alleged at the trial that the politician had committed illegal actions with respect to Lt-Col Dmitriyev. Abilov insists that when the police officer exceeded his authority by trying to forcibly detain and take him away from the square, where the oppositionist was waiting for his friends, he resorted to self-defense and accidentally touched over the officer’s cap.
Later, in October 2005, both sides prepared the text of reconciliation agreement on that incident, but it was not signed, although Dmitriyev himself had initially agreed with it. The criminal case against the politician was left without any move. On February 16, right after the assassination of Cochairman of the “True Ak Zhol” party Altynbek Sarsenbayev, it was reanimated. In April, B. Abilov was filed in the all-republican search on this case. He was not allowed to take part in the European Parliament’s session in Brussels on April 24.
Opposition says that the prosecutors failed to present strong evidences of Abilov’s guilt during the trial in Temirtau. Only one woman, an akimat [local executive body] official, told in court that the defendant had allegedly punched the police officer. At the trial, Dmitriyev pointed that he did not see this woman on the site of incident. Thus, her words should have been put under doubt by the judges. Other witnesses told that Abilov “did not insult or scuffled with the police officer”.
Abilov told to Panorama that when it became obvious that “the criminal case is falling apart, the prosecutors decided to act as a mediator”. Deputy Prosecutor for Temirtau, public prosecutor for the case and Dmitriyev urged me to accept reconciliation by fully admitting the guilt, writing the penitential letter; they promised that the case would be cancelled then”. Abilov does not exclude that “it could be a provocation”, since “the sentence could be passed on the basis of a penitential letter”.
The court voiced its decision last Monday. Abilov was sentenced to 100 hours of public works for insult and 3 years of conditional imprisonment for “attack on the police officer”. The final sentence left as 3 years of conditional imprisonment. The oppositionist will appeal against it in the regional court, although it is unlikely that it would cancel or alter the sentence.
The opposition leader also told that there is another big trial in Almaty coming soon. “This case should not have been even started because of the 10-year prescription”, says Abilov, accused of embezzlement and creation of criminal group in connection with the BUTYA-Capital Fund. He said that the case features 71 volumes (while the case on murder of Sarsenbayev contains only 21 volumes) and 600-page indictment.
Bulat Abilov considers this criminal prosecution as an aspiration of the authorities to “sweep out the political field” and force him to stop political activity in case of early parliamentary elections so that he was deprived of the right to run for the parliament. He says the sentence is a “political order”.
The “True Ak Zhol” Party expressed “a resolute protest against ungrounded and biased sentence that the Temirtau City Court passed to Cochairman of the party Bulat Abilov”. The Movement “For Just Kazakhstan” expressed its concern, pointing that the court decision “has restricted civil rights of Cochairman of the “True Ak Zhol” Party and his political activity”.
Irina Bektiyarova
Panorama Newspaper
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