Murat Abdilda, a 35-year-old blogger from Turkestan region, who has more than 40,000 followers on Instagram and over 111,000 followers on Tiktok, was convicted under Article 174 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan for “Inciting social, national, tribal, racial, class or religious hatred”.
By the verdict of the judge of the City Court of Turkestan Arysbay Tilegenov, the blogger (known for his scandalous live broadcasts with the use of profanities) was sent to jail for 4 years and 6 months.
Since we are talking about inciting hatred, access to the case of Murat Abdilda (his real name is Murat Abdillayev) is closed. However, the press service of the court of Turkestan region reported that a certain citizen filed a lawsuit against the blogger, who considered the blogger’s statements during live broadcasts offensive on a national basis. The special services monitoring social networks confirmed the fact of the insult. What exactly Abdilda said in court wasn’t explained, and the recording of the broadcast itself has already been deleted from his page.
It should be noted that this is Abdilda’s third conviction. He received the first one for a period of 3.5 years in June 2020 in the court of the city of Kentau and also under Article 174 of the Criminal Code. In August 2021, the City Court of Kentau increased the suspended sentence to 4 years. Both verdicts are also in closed access and it’s not possible to get acquainted with their details.
And now, a year later, it’s another trial, and again under Article 174. But this time, the judge, taking into account the blogger’s two previous convictions, wasn’t excessively soft towards him and sentenced him to a real term. In addition, Abdilda will have to pay a fine and undergo compulsory treatment for alcoholism. The appeal instance of Turkestan region upheld the verdict of the first instance.
It’s worth adding that Murat Abdilda’s followers on Tiktok called him the sex symbol of Kazakhstan. And the song “Chagala” performed by him, which received over 6 million views on YouTube, was called a hit for all times.
