The head of the department of justice of the Kostanay region, Amir Umarov, started a lawsuit with journalist Alexandra Sergazinova, who accused him of falsifying documents in the interests of the secretary of the regional bar association, Togzhan Agatayeva.
At the first court session, the judge of the Specialized Administrative Court of Kostanay Sabyr Tazhkenov demanded that the journalists who were present at the trial take a non-disclosure agreement. And this is despite the fact that the process is open.
Recall that on June 7, the website of the Tobolinfo news agency published the publication “Will the chairman of the bar of Kostanay region and an official from the Department of Justice sit in the dock?” by journalist Alexandra Sergazinova.
The article said that the secretary of the regional bar association, Togzhan Agatayeva, decided to obtain a lawyer’s license, while not having appropriate legal education and a diploma from a specialized higher educational institution.
Despite this, the chairman of the regional bar association Ramil Khismatullin accepts Agataeva for an internship. Moreover, as Sergazinova was told by representatives of the lawyer community of the Kostanay region, Khismatullin signed Agatayeva’s conclusion on the internship during the period when she was vacationing with her family in Egypt. The Department of Justice, which is headed by Amir Umarov, without checking the availability of the necessary diploma and the legality of the internship, allows Agataeva to take the exams, which she successfully passes and receives a lawyer’s license. After there was a fuss about this, Agatayeva applied to the Ministry of Justice with a statement about the termination of the license issued to her.
“Yes, you can close your eyes to everything: Togzhan Agatayeva, together with the chairman of the Bar Association Ramil Khismatullin, the head of the Department of Justice Amir Umarov, did not commit a murder, but only falsified documents, using their official position and thereby undermining the authority of the state,” Sergazinova concluded in her publications.
It was this resolution that Amir Umarov did not like. He considered that Sergazinova had slandered him, accusing him of falsification and a crime of corruption. The justice official wrote a statement to the police and the case went to court. By the way, at the trial, Umarov forbade the press to photograph and film him.
The behavior of the presiding judge Sabyr Tazhkenov is also noteworthy. Despite the fact that the case is being considered in an open regime, he demanded that the journalists who arrived to cover the process give a non-disclosure agreement after the first meeting. After the journalists refused to provide such a receipt, the judge forbade the bailiffs to let them into the next court session scheduled for July 29.
