The former Deputy Minister of transport of Kyrgyzstan was sentenced to 14 years for bribes
On Tuesday, July 30, the court of Pervomay district sentenced the former Deputy Minister of transport and roads of Kyrgyzstan Azimkan Zhusubaliev to 14 years in prison. This was reported to ACCA by Jyrgalbek Babaev (the lawyer of Zhusubaliev).
According to him, the investigation has charged the former Deputy Minister of transport with lobbying the interests of a foreign company, obtaining a contract for the construction of a part of the alternative North-South highway, as well as abuse of the situation, extortion, and receiving a bribe.
“The court simply rewrote the indictment, did not take into account the arguments of the defense, and issued a conviction. There was a feeling that in that case there was no defense at all, only charges,” Babaev told to ACCA.
It will be recalled that Azimkan Zhusubaliev was detained in December 2018 on suspicion of receiving a bribe in the amount of $50.000. In exchange, he allegedly promised a foreign company to lobby for its interests and ensure victory in the tender for the construction of a part of the alternative North-South highway.
However, according to the investigation, earlier he had already received $120.000 through intermediaries who are his relatives. The total size of the bribe was to be $520.000.
“My client was sentenced to 14 years in prison for a large bribe, i.e. $ 520.000, which was not really. This is an unsupported assumption of the investigation. We insist that it was a provocation organized by a citizen of Tajikistan Behruz Gulzurov, who acted as a briber. By the way, the court released him in the courtroom and imposed a fine of $ 28.000,” the lawyer told his version.
According to Jyrgalbek Babaev, when the officers of the State Committee for National Security investigate the case, there can be no objectivity in the case. “It so happened that the judges are controlled by the State Committee for National Security. Hence it follows such sentence,” the lawyer said.
Currently, the defense is waiting for a conviction that must be handed out within 5 working days. After that, they will appeal to the Bishkek City Court.
“We will demand a complete withdrawal of the charges and release,” he concluded.
We add that in this case Bolot Toktobaev was also convicted for 6 years, who, according to the investigation, was an intermediary in the transfer of bribe.
