Ex-KNB Chief Dutbayev Discusses Sarsenbayuly Killing 19 Years Later

On February 11, 2006, opposition politician Altynbek Sarsenbayuly was kidnapped.

His body, along with those of his driver Vasily Zhuravlev and security guard Bauyrzhan Baibosyn, were discovered on February 13.

In an interview with Orda.kz editor-in-chief Gulnar Bazhkenova, former KNB chief Nartay Dutbayev - who lost his position after this discovery - shared his perspective on the case.

Gaps 

Almost at the end of the interview, Gulnar Bazhkenova asked Nartay Dutbayev an important question:

Relatives of the deceased, comrades, people close to the assissinated often reiterate that the truth will eventually come to light, do you believe this?

 Nartay Dutbayev responded that the relatives already have clarity.

Man is such a creature, he wants to see some underlying reason everywhere, as if something is buried deeper there. Obviously, to think things through and somehow reason, this is how man is. That is why he is reasonable.

19 years have passed, and we still have not found out who ordered the hit of one of the most prominent politicians in the history of Kazakhstan.

The first question asked related to the former KNB head's ability to solve the case: 

This is a criminal case, is it solved in your mind, do you have a clear idea of who killed, who ordered it? At least for yourself, do you understand everything?

For Nartay Dutbayev, the time passed is insufficient.

I still don't have a clear, precise understanding of what and how happened, to know it in detail, to be sure of it. Because there is a lot of confusion in the criminal case itself, in its investigation, in the trial.

However, a few minutes later, the first suspect emerged - Rakhat Aliyev.

According to Gulnar Bazhkenova's interlocutor, Nazarbayev's son-in-law was implicated.

I am basically sure that Rakhat Aliyev had a hand in this. I had this clear understanding from the first days, I reported this to the president. Literally a few days after the hit was committed and when I met with him.

Rustam Ibragimov, convicted of the killing of Sarsenbayuly and sentenced to life imprisonment, perplexes Dutbayev with his statements of his own innocence.

A year ago he said, but not for the first time, that he did not kill, that they were set up. You know, there are also moments there that raise doubts, so to speak. Either he is guilty or not.

- "There are doubts."

- "They say that one of the rules for jurors is, if there is any doubt, it is better to let the guilty go than to punish the innocent for life."

- "I don't know all the case materials."

 Nartay Dutbayev still does not know whether Nursultan Nazarbayev gave Rakhat Aliyev the go-ahead to carry out the assassinations of political opponents.

Phone Calls 

The former KNB head was the first to speak about Nazarbayev's telephone conversation, which someone could use as compromising evidence against the first President.

You know, he (Alnur Musayev — was the Chair of the KNB before Dutbayev)... He said somewhere, he directly voiced a story that supposedly while in Austria for treatment, President Nazarbayev called Nurtay Abykayev (a friend and assistant of the first president) and told him where you go, that you are there, resting somewhere or something. Well, that's how he conveyed it. I can't remember it word for word now.

Only the conversation, where Nazarbayev allegedly indirectly calls for measures against political opponents, is more likely to be a rumor. 

No one heard the recording.

The second time the special services were able to track Altynbek Sarsenbayuly's cell phone call was at the moment when the politician was killed:

You see, every phone has its own code. And when they put on wiretapping, so that if they change, even, say, SIM cards, so that not by number, but by phone code they put on control. So change the SIM card, don't change it, in any case the phone shows up. We had the appropriate equipment, which we got from Rakhat Aliyev, together with his so-called UPP (Presidential Support Directorate).

News Of A Triple Homicide

Nartay Dutbayev attempted to share the chronological order of events:

We had just sat down to have breakfast at the hotel, we didn't even go up to our rooms, but to the lobby, because we thought we'd go up and wash up. And the head of the Almaty City Committee of National Security called me. And he said, just like that: the bodies of three murdered people have been found, among them Altynbek Sarsenbayuly. I said: were you there yourself? He said no. I said: go and see for yourself, call back, that can't be.

The KNB head was in Istanbul at the time.

Dutbayev was supposed to go to a Persian Gulf country to establish relations with its special services. 

Dutbayev could not remember which country, though.

He decided to return to Kazakhstan.

Later, the first President told him it would have been wiser to continue the diplomatic mission.

Nazarbayev instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the prosecutor's office to investigate.

But after this, Nartay Dutbayev participated in the detention of employees of the KNB Arystan structure.

The Arystanites did 'odd jobs' since the 90s. In the 90s, they protected bandits, restaurants, offices. That happened. We (the KNB) rooted it out. But, apparently, we weren't able to do it completely.

According to Dutbayev, the actions of the Arystanites disgraced the KNB.

Rakhat Aliyev

Nartay Dutbayev said that from the beginning, he had a strained relationship with Nursultan Nazarbayev's son-in-law.

His work as the head of a separate special structure, which recruited employees, greatly worried him. 

In response to Dutbayev's concerns, Nazarbayev said that he was aware of it and that everything was fine.

Severed heads of dogs, beatings of journalists, they walled up some doors. It was all this UPP (unofficial structure, headed by Rakhat Aliyev). And they wanted to do it this way, you understand — to intimidate.

The former KNB Chair recalled that in 2004, journalist Askhat Sharipzhanov died.

In July 2004, he died from being struck by a car after an interview with Zamanbek Nurkadilov. 

A year later, Zamanbek Nurkadilov died in his own home.

He was found with three bullet wounds; the official version is still suicide.

I can officially declare to you and all your viewers, to the entire population who hears and sees us: while I was the Chair of the KNB, there were no political assassinations on the part of the committee. We did not engage in such matters. We certainly carried out some kind of surveillance. No questions about that. Surveillance of opposition forces. We reported to the top about our intentions and how events were developing. We participated in this political world with our own forces and means. But to plant dead dogs, assault people... Do you understand? This is not the committee's method of work.

Dutbayev believes there was no reason to kill Sarsenbayuly in 2006.

A year earlier, it was clear that Nazarbayev would win the elections.

I had an understanding that he would definitely win. Maybe it was inflated, of course, but it was clear that he would have an absolute majority. Based on this, I also had thoughts about Rakhat Aliyev. I understood that he wanted to destabilize the situation. I told him (Nazarbayev), he is doing you harm, he is going about his own trajectory, he wants to be elevated again, to be somewhere close to you, and to continue to do the things that he did before.

Gulnar Bazhkenova asked Nurtay Dutbaev whether the National Security Committee tracked officials:

The National Security Committee did not have any such practice at all, so that there would be any grounds for carrying out monitoring activities.

"But if a person works in the Presidential Administration, writes strategies, drinks heavily, in that case he is unreliable, did you not keep an eye on such personnel?"

Original Author: Alexandra Mokhireva

Full Interview in Russian: