Almaty: Psychiatric Hospital Patients Kidnapped and Killed, Their Apartments Were Sold for Next to Nothing

Hearings on a high-profile case have begun in an Almaty-specialized inter-district criminal court. Twenty-two people are in the dock, including former heads of departments of the Center for Psychological Health (CPH), former law enforcement officers, notaries, realtors, and repeat offenders. 

They found people with mental disorders who were on their own and owned real estate. Some were kidnapped and held in captivity, and their apartments were reregistered and sold. Some were even killed. Orda has looked into the matter.

We learned that the court had begun considering the criminal case from Renat Kadyrov's post on social networks. Renat Kadyrov is a lawyer specializing in family and inheritance law. He said that "an organized criminal group had been systematically kidnapping mentally ill people for almost 10 years, depriving them of their freedom and property."

Using deception and abuse of trust, they committed crimes on an especially large scale. The criminal group developed a carefully thought-out scheme. They used kidnapped mentally ill people as front men for the illegal registration of real estate, the lawyer wrote on his Facebook page.

People were not only deprived of freedom and property, they were also mocked and even killed. The organized crime group had its own "manual" notaries to legitimize all their illicit operations. 

The group registered the property in the names of frontmen, thus hiding their tracks and legitimizing their criminal activities. This allowed them to control and manage the property without raising suspicions among law enforcement agencies, noted Kadyrov.

All members of the organized crime group had their own clearly defined responsibilities: 

Doctors used their professional knowledge and access to patients to kidnap them, notaries provided legal cover, and repeat offenders carried (everything -Ed.) out, physically restraining victims and eliminating unwanted witnesses.

According to Renat Kadyrov, "the scandal has shaken society and caused a wave of indignation," but this is not entirely true. Few people know about this case. 

Qualified Doctors from The Hospital on Kablukova

The criminal case was opened in November 2022. The investigation identified 37 counts. Most describe fraudulent actions to seize someone else's real estate—apartments in Almaty. The CPH employees, popularly known as the "mental hospital on Kablukov," facilitated the organized crime group's search for suitable persons. 

An Orda journalist visited the institution, but neither the director nor any of the doctors wanted to talk to our journalist. The HR department said that they started working after those employees were fired. The center's head requested that all questions be sent in writing through the eOtinish portal. 

We were able to find one person who could tell us something. Our interlocutor asked not to reveal his identity.

Two years ago, two heads of the men's departments, number one and number two, stopped showing up for work. Management initially said they were on vacation. Over time, rumors began to spread among the staff. And then, the center's employees began to be called in for questioning. 

The former head of CPH 's department #1, Aizhan Dzhusupgalieva, is a renowned, highly qualified psychiatrist with about 20 years of experience. She was highly valued not only by patients but also by the hospital management. Many employees referred their friends to her. She never turned anyone away. We learned from publicly available Internet sources that Dzhusupgalieva is the author of scientific research.

An employee of the Center suggests that the former head of Department No. 1 is accused of passing on information about her patients to repeat offenders. 

The former head of department No. 3, Mayra Urazaeva, is a high level certificate physician, psychiatrist, and neurologist with over 20 years of experience. In 2022, the Ministry of Health awarded Urazayeva the "Excellent Healthcare Worker" badge.

Such an award is typically given to distinguished health workers for many years of work and personal contribution to the development of practical healthcare, the development and implementation of unique diagnostic and treatment methods, and active participation in improving and reforming the healthcare system, the development of medical science, education, and innovation in healthcare.

The doctor defended her master's thesis on the topic "Suicide typology in men, methods of providing correctional assistance." The doctor's profile on the 103.kz website indicates that Urazayeva was studying for a doctorate and preparing a dissertation. She is also a mother.

According to rumors, she is also suspected of passing on personal data of patients to an organized crime group's members.

Our source suggests that the investigation began when a close relative of a doctor's former patient arrived in Almaty from Russia. The patient had died, and the woman was the direct heir to his property. However, upon arrival in Almaty, she discovered that the apartment was not only registered to an unknown person but had already been resold. 

Privately, at the hospital, they say that the doctors are looking at 16-18 years in prison,our source told us.  

We do not know whether the patient we were told about was one of those killed. Orda was able to find a close relative of an elderly woman who was killed. The case will also be considered in court as part of an extensive investigation. The young woman told us the names of the alleged organizers and leaders of the organized crime group.

Grandma 

Eleonora Dolgova said that her grandmother, Emilia Kondratyevna, died in December 2020, as the investigation later found - from strangulation. The young woman was 17 years old when she was left an orphan. 

By law, she was supposed to inherit. But her great aunt Irina Gaparova, one main suspect in the criminal case, said that her grandmother had written a will shortly before her death. It specified that she left all her property to Gaparova.

Irina Gaparova is my great aunt. I met her when I was a child. She would come to my grandmother for holidays — birthdays, anniversaries. But that was very rare. Once, after her visit, all of my grandmother’s savings — five or six thousand euros — disappeared. I don’t remember exactly. I was just a child then. And after that incident, my aunt disappeared for a long time, didn’t show up for about seven years. She didn’t call my grandmother, and I didn’t hear anything about Gaparova. Then in the fall of 2020, I couldn’t visit my grandmother as usual — I worked a lot. And then, at the beginning of October, my grandmother’s friend Anna called me and said that my grandmother had become very ill,the young woman began her story.  

Eleonora was surprised, as Emilia Kondratyevna, despite her 83 years, led a very active lifestyle: she went to the market daily and looked after her son. During her granddaughter's absence, Gaparova began to visit the household more often. She settled her friend in the apartment. And the grandmother suddenly fell ill.

When I saw her in such a state, I called an ambulance. Irina Gaparova immediately rushed over and said that hospitalization was not necessary. My grandmother's friend had already moved into her apartment. Irina insisted that she would look after my grandmother. At that point, Irina had got her hands on all of my grandmother's documents. Even then, everything seemed very strange to me. But I couldn't do anything. Irina has a difficult nature; she didn't let me near my grandmother at all, the young woman said.

Doctors prescribed medications for the elderly woman. The granddaughter came daily, ensured that her grandmother took her medicines on time, and set up IVs for her. 

I asked my other aunt, my own, to put in IVs. We came every day. By December, my grandmother felt better. She started talking. Her nausea went away. But Gaparova's friend was always in the house, the girl noted.

Unfortunately, at that moment, Eli's other grandmother broke both her arms, and she needed constant help.

But I tried to visit her whenever possible. I was running between two grandmothers. I simply had no one else. And they had no one else to help. It so happened that at the end of December, I myself fell ill, and I was away from my grandmother for a week. But I called Irina Gaparova every day to find out if my grandmother was getting her medication on time. She said: 'Everything is fine, my grandmother is getting better.' But on the day I was going to visit her, my grandmother's friend called me and told me that she had passed away.

The young woman arrived the following day because Gaparova forbade her from coming any earlier. 

There was a very strange moment: my grandmother died in the evening, and early the next morning, she was brought home without an autopsy. The death certificate stated that my grandmother died of an illness. I arrived and saw that the locks on the front doors had been changed. On the day of the funeral, Gaparova tried to get forceful with me, hinting that I should not show up there again, says Eleonora.

At the funeral, there was a man, Ashirali Boltaboev, whom Gaparova called a family friend. But the granddaughter had never seen him before. He behaved very openly: he joked, laughed, and said he had recently "gotten out."

This man is also a defendant in the criminal case. He, like Gaparova, is accused of creating and leading an organized crime group. He is also being charged with killing Emilia Kondratyevna. In September 2023, after an exhumation, it was discovered that the grandmother died a violent death.

After Emilia Kondratyevna's death, there were two apartments left. She wanted to leave one for her son and the second for her granddaughter. Gaparova had all the inheritance documents, though. 

Gaparova did hand over my father's and grandmother's documents. My lawyer and I filed a complaint with the Auezov District Police Department. To which Gaparova brought a stack of documents to the police, including a fake will and permission to conduct an inheritance case. Allegedly, my grandmother inherited my father's property, and only Gaparova was included in her will. Also, these documents were signed with a difference of one day. But the strange thing was that she did not sign the will herself, but asked a third party. That is, she herself could not sign due to health reasons. Some woman signed for her, and the same Boltaboyev acted as a witness. And after a while, she 'herself' signed the power of attorney to conduct the inheritance case. But I saw that it was not her signature and not her handwriting. All this looked like pure fraud, the young girl said.

Lawyer Oksana Buryak, who represents the interests of the orphan pro bono explained to us:

Our law stipulates that if a person is physically unable to sign a document, a signatory can do so. Another person can sign the paper in the presence of a witness. According to the case materials, the signatory did not know what was happening. On September 9, a will was drawn up, which the grandmother allegedly could not sign herself. And on September 10, a power of attorney for inheritance matters was drawn up in the grandmother's name, which she allegedly signed herself. This seemed very strange to us, and we filed an statement to have the documents checked and the case investigated.

Law enforcement agencies, however, did not open a criminal case for almost two years, as the police were unable to find any evidence of a crime in the forged documents. 

We contacted law enforcement agencies for the first time regarding our case in May 2021 — the Auezov District Police Department. The victim is an orphan, she just came of age. We agreed to help her free of charge. We asked the Police Department to look into the case. They said that they had a will, so there was no crime. We insisted that all the documents were fake and that a criminal case had to be opened. But the police registered the case in the file register as a matter of routine. No matter how many complaints we wrote to different authorities, they did not listen to us. And only when this case came to light, our case was integrated into it, the lawyer said. 

In 2022, Elya learned that a criminal case was being investigated. Irina Gaparova was the main defendant.  

The investigation found out that they and their accomplices kidnapped people from a psychiatric clinic who had real estate but were alone. They kept some of them in captivity outside the city, killed others, and buried them under a false name. It turns out they had been doing this for a long time. We asked that our case be attached to the other counts of this big case, Elya Dolgova told us. 

When the investigation into her case was opened, investigators ordered an examination and exhumation of the grandmother's body. 

They wanted to exhume my uncle, too: he was most likely murdered, too. The results of the examination of my grandmother's body showed that she died of strangulation. Her hyoid bone was broken, which can happen during strangulation. The trial has now begun. We hope for a fair trial and that all the guilty parties will be punished in accordance with the crimes they committed,
 the young woman said. 

Eleanor familiarized herself with the materials for the entire case. The scale of the group's crimes was shocking.

She told us that in addition to the homicide involving her grandmother, another case was being investigated - the homicide of a former patient. 

The case was transferred to court in August 2024. Eleanor Dolgova believes that the trial should be public. 

Organized crime group is a very serious article, implying severe punishment. There is a fear that the defendants will use resources to ensure that justice is not fully administered. Well, it is generally useful for people to learn about such a case to avoid encountering such fraudsters from their own experience. After all, we see that among the participants of the organized crime group there are notaries and a local police officer. People should understand that such things are in life, and be more careful,the young woman noted. 

Renat Kadyrov also commented:

The exposure of the scheme demonstrated how deeply corrupt and criminal elements can penetrate the healthcare and notary systems. Many wonder how long such crimes could remain undetected and how many people suffered from the actions of this group. This story demonstrates the need for strict control and vigilance on the part of society and law enforcement agencies. Criminals who used deception and abuse of trust must be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Society is obliged to protect its most vulnerable members and prevent such tragedies from happening again,the lawyer wrote on social media.

Our editorial team has sent its questions to the hospital, the Ministry of Health and the Almaty Akimat. We will closely follow the trial and report on its progress.

Original Author: Editorial

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original article in Russian published on 13/09/24.