Lawyer: House Arrest Prevents Orda.kz Head Bazhkenova from Defending Herself in Court

Lawyer Murat Adam argues that the house arrest of Orda.kz founder and editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova is preventing her from exercising her right to defend herself in court, Orda.kz reports.

According to Adam, the Almaty City Court reviewed an appeal on December 8 at 11:30 against the investigative court’s decision to place Bazhkenova under house arrest.

Meanwhile, the Bostandyq District Court has suspended enforcement proceedings against her until the main case — linked to an alleged attempted raid on Orda — is considered.

Bazhkenova is also involved in two ongoing civil cases that require her personal participation, as well as an administrative complaint regarding the actions of a judicial enforcement officer.

The combination of these circumstances indicates that under house arrest, Gulnara Bazhkenova is being deprived of the ability to directly participate in court hearings and to personally defend her interests in the criminal case where she is the complainant. In other words, she has been stripped of the right to defend herself from the actions of Maksat Ganiyev and others she mentioned in publications as having ties to Kaspi Bank,
 the lawyer stressed.

The court ultimately left the house arrest decision unchanged, according to Murat Adam.

He noted that he had outlined all the violations committed during Gulnar Bazhkenova's arrest on December 1 and her placement under house arrest. 

We presented documents, evidence, and arguments — but the appellate court didn't ask a single question or bother to review a single piece of material we used to justify these procedural violations. Our Themis is as if petrified: deaf, dumb, and, unfortunately, blind. It refused to hear, see, or understand anything. And it didn't even consider it necessary to explain, after the decision was announced, the reasons for the decision to maintain Gulnar Bazhkenova's house arrest or the reason why she remains under house arrest. Was that really so difficult? The decision was handed down from the top down — without a word, without explanation, without a shred of justice, the lawyer wrote.

Bazhkenova was placed under house arrest on December 1 after an investigative judge approved the measure. That same day, police conducted searches at Orda’s offices in Almaty and Astana, detaining journalists and seizing equipment.

Adam says he has filed multiple motions with police, as well as complaints to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Almaty Prosecutor’s Office regarding unlawful actions during the searches and the confiscation of Bazhkenova’s and the newsroom’s property.

He has also submitted a request to open a criminal case into obstruction of a lawyer’s lawful work.

Original Author: Anastasia Prilepskaya