The criminal case against Sayat Adilbekuly, who was shot during the January protests and then tortured, was dropped by the prosecutor’s office in Almaty.
Sayat Adilbekuly himself announced this joyful event on his Instagram page.
Thanks for the freedom! I want to thank everyone who participated in my defense, who helped and supported me and my family since those January days. I thank the Almighty for everything that I have and for the fact that He sent you to me. With the help of you, I was able to achieve the termination of criminal prosecution and justify my good name! I want to separately thank the human rights activists who helped me from the first days, I also want to express my gratitude to the deputies of the European Parliament and deputies of the EU countries and other democratic countries. Bow to all of you! Thank you for your help and support. You have done a great job not only for me in particular but for our future in general!”, he wrote.
Attached to Adilbekuly’s post was a scan of the prosecutor’s office’s decision to terminate the criminal case against him, signed by the head of the interdepartmental investigative-operational group of the city prosecutor’s office, K. Kungozhinov.
“On January 7, a criminal case was registered on the fact of participation in mass riots. On January 12, Sayat Adilbekuly was detained on suspicion of committing this crime. On January 14, he was authorized to be arrested for a period of 2 months. On January 25, the preventive measure was changed from detention to a written undertaking not to leave the country. Objective data actually confirming Adilbekula’s participation in the riots have not been found. Based on the foregoing, we decide to stop the criminal prosecution of Sayat Adilbekuly. Cancel the measure of restraint in the form of a written undertaking not to leave,” the resolution says.
Recall, as ACCA has already reported, on the morning of January 5, Sayat went in search of medicine for his little daughter. On one of the streets, unknown people forced him into a car and took him to the central square where the rally was taking place. During the dispersal of the protesters, Sayat received a bullet wound. By some miracle, he reached his home, from where he was hospitalized. At the hospital, he underwent surgery to save his kidney. On January 8, armed men in uniform came to the hospital. They dragged him out into the street, put him in a paddy wagon, and took him to the Almaty pre-trial detention center SI-18.
There, Sayat, as well as other detainees, were tortured: they were forced to stand naked on the cold floor, beaten with truncheons, and poured with boiling water. Sayat told the public about all these atrocities after he was released from the pre-trial detention center on January 25.
Whether Adilbekuly will demand compensation from the state for torture and for moral and physical damage, having in his hands a resolution from the prosecutor’s office confirming his innocence, is not reported.
It should also be reminded that according to the General Prosecutor’s Office of Kazakhstan, 15 employees of special and law enforcement agencies are suspected of using unlawful methods of investigation against detainees during the January events. At the same time, nine of them are already in custody.
