Markabayev's Lawyer Claims Drugs Could Have Been Planted

The case of the former deputy head of the Altyn Orda market, Yermek Markabayev, has begun in the Almaty region. He is accused of drug possession. But his lawyer claims her client is innocent. Orda has gathered the details.

The preliminary hearing in the case took place on October 16. The defendant's lawyer, Dinara Zhubatova, says it did not go smoothly. Due to technical problems, Markabayev could not say anything in his defense. The court immediately set a date for the main trial nonetheless. Zhubatova explained why she believes the criminal case to be falsified and her client to be innocent.

On A Tip

Yermek Markabayev was detained on June 2 this year near the Altyn Orda market. After an unknown person reported to the police that there was a firearm in his car, law enforcement officers immediately found Markabayev.

They were detained roughly, laid on the ground. Stopped allegedly on a tip. Someone called and said that a firearm was being transported in a BMW X7 car, but the license plate number was not given. Drugs ended up being found instead of weapons, Zhubatova says.

According to the lawyer, the drugs were found in his pants' back pocket. She assumes that they were planted by the police themselves.

It was previously reported that the businessman was suspected of violating the law under several articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan at once - "Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices" and "Illegal handling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues without intent to sell."

According to the Karasay district Police Administration, law enforcement officers found a powdery white substance, traumatic weapons and a bulletproof vest in the car.

On June 2 of this year, the dispatch unit of the PA of Karasay district received a message about armed persons in a BMW car in the village of Abay. As part of the operational search measures, a BMW X7 car (license plate 700WWL02) was detained under the control of A. Tuyakov, together with Y. Markabaev (deputy director of the Altyn Orda UTK) and S. Potapov (security).

A pre-trial investigation was launched under the article "Illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation or carrying of weapons, ammunition, explosives and explosive devices".

Dinara Zhubatova, lawyer of the Almaty Regional Bar Association

According to his lawyer, Markabayev is being charged with only the fourth part of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Illegal manufacture, processing, acquisition, storage, transportation without the intent to sell narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues on a particularly large scale."

It turns out, somehow miraculously, the police officers promptly left after the call, stopped the car, while not even knowing which one they need to search, as no one told them the license plate number. And then they found not a firearm, but a narcotic. I assume that they did not dare to plant a weapon, because its origin can be traced, so they made a choice in favor of drugs, says Zhubatova.

She noted that they found 1,796 grams of mephedrone on Markabayev. If his guilt is proven, the term of imprisonment for this offense can range from three to seven years.

Haste and CPC Violation 

As Zhubatova said, the preliminary hearing was held in the Karasay district Court and was jeopardised. Markabayev is in the Taldykorgan pre-trial detention center, he attempted to join online. Due to technical problems, he was unable to do so. The hearing was postponed for a few hours. After five and a half hours, Markabayev was able to join, but there were problems with the audio.

The hearing was supposed to start at 11 o'clock, but they couldn't get it online, at 16:30 we somehow got it, but there was no sound. He heard us, but we didn't hear him. He only moved his head according to the lawyers' positions
 the lawyer noted.

The hearing was still held. The main trial has been set for October 27. The lawyer believes that no more than 3-4 hearings are ahead, as there are only two volumes in the case.

Zhubatova intends to continue to prove the innocence of her client. She stated that the investigation was conducted with numerous CPC (criminal procedure codex - Ed.) violations.

There are a lot of violations, they were clearly in a hurry. As soon as we started to take an active line of defense in terms of appealing actions, they just sent everything to the court. We were not handed an indictment, we were not acquainted with the materials, with the evidence, or with the recordings of the video cameras that were at the place of detention.

Yermek Markabayev at the Altyn Orda market. Photo: Markabayev's Facebook page

The defense asked to clarify who had called the police department and reported on the firearms in the car, but the police officers, according to her, could not.

We requested to (provide - Ed.) the call history: who he called, from which number. Employees say they were unable to establish (this - Ed.). This is impossible, the itemization of these calls can be done easily.

The criminal case against Markabayev was investigated by the Karasay district police Department, the prosecution was supported by the prosecutor's office.

Markabayev's lawyers had stated that this criminal case was opened in just four minutes. Defense lawyers were not allowed to see him for about two hours despite their authority to do so. The detainee was in handcuffs, although at that time he had the status of a witness with the right to defense. The protocol of detention was not issued immediately, and moral and psychological pressure was exerted on Markabayev.

Lawyers have suggested that what was happening was an organized provocation against Daniyar Alpiyev, the owner of the Altyn Orda market, so that he would give up his 20% share in the company.

Original Author: Ksenia Nikiforyak

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original piece in Russian for accuracy.