Officer’s Death at Jarkent Garrison: Prosecutors Demand Prison Sentences

An officer was killed in the Jarkent garrison: military prosecutors are demanding up to 16 years in prison for three conscripts and their commander, Orda.kz reports.

The defendants claim that they did not want to kill. They say they were following the orders of their commander, Major Kaztay. 

Court debates have begun in Astana. In the dock are the commander of the reconnaissance and assault battalion of military unit 74261 of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Darkhan Kaztay, and three conscripts.

They are accused of the death of a 26-year-old captain of the engineering service of the same unit, Darkhan Daulet. 

The tragedy occurred on the night of November 13–14, 2024, when he took up duty as a senior officer of the control group. He was supposed to patrol the territory.

According to the investigation, conscripts involved in night training in anti-sabotage security mistook him for a simulated violator. The officer was tied up, gagged, choked, and dragged to the sports town. There he was left unconscious.

When he was found, he was already dead. According to the expert opinion, death was caused by asphyxia.

During the trial, it became known that the battalion commander, Darkhan Kaztay, personally gave the conscripts the order to attack a serviceman, without any training, official orders, or permission.

During the court debate, one defendant, conscript Bakbergen Rustamuly, stated that on November 13, 2024, when the personnel were getting ready for bed, Kaztay called him along with conscript Ayan Shakir. He said that the battalion had weakened, that the fighters had lost their vigilance, and that the "reconnaissance and assault company" should be a symbol of respect.

He ordered them to change into civilian clothes, put on masks, and seize anyone who would be “wandering around the unit’s territory” at night, no matter if they were privates or officers.

In case of resistance, force was to be used. This order was not part of the training plan and had no legal or disciplinary basis.

The head of military unit #74261, Yernat Toleugulov, and his deputies stated during interrogation that the operation had not been coordinated with the command.

According to the defendant Ayan Shakir, after receiving the order, they realized that the two of them might not be able to handle it; they asked Nurman Yebsadik to go with them.

They changed into civilian clothes, put on masks, took a rope, and went to work. They grabbed a phone to document the "result" and report to the commander.

At that time, Captain Darkhan Daulet, the head of the unit's engineering service, who had come on duty that day as the senior officer of the control group, was walking across the parade ground, unsuspecting.

The young men caught up with him between the barracks and the headquarters building. One distracted him, two knocked him to the ground. They twisted his arms and legs, tied his mouth with a glove, and wrapped it with a cord so that the gag would not fall out. Then they lifted the soldier and carried him to the dark part of the sports town.

They left him in the dark, tied up, with no way to call for help, and returned to the barracks.

As the defendant Rustamuly claims, after they carried out the order, he reported to the battalion duty officer I. M. Yebimolde that they had detained and neutralized the violator, and he was lying with his hands and feet tied on the territory of the sports town.

If at that moment the duty officer of Yebimolda's battalion had stood up and gone to check who the conscripts had detained, perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided. Perhaps Darkhan Daulet would still be alive, says Rustemula's mother, Shynar Adenova.

The poor young man was dying slowly and painfully, being on the territory of the unit, where all this time there were people nearby, where, it would seem, he could have been saved. If Yebimolda had not remained indifferent, if he himself had come to the scene, as the circumstances required, everything could have ended differently. But he did not come. He sent one of the servicemen. And it was he who, almost an hour later, found Daulet in agony. Or already dead. And the worst thing: why is the investigation into him being conducted separately, why is he not among the defendants? the woman asks herself.

Commander Kaztay has denied his guilt.

State prosecutors are requesting 16 years in prison for the major. He is charged with abuse of power with grave consequences, violence resulting in death, and complicity.

As for the conscripts, Rustamula Bakbergen from Taldykorgan, Shakir Ayat, and Yebsadyk Nurman from the Turkistan region, prosecutors are asking for 12 to 13 years in prison. All three are 18–19 year olds.

They insist that they were following the orders of a superior officer, claiming that they did not realize what it would lead to and did not want to cause harm.

Military prosecutors are also demanding that the court issue a private ruling to the Ministry of Defense regarding the head of unit #74261, Yernat Toleugulov, and his deputies. For the lack of control, for violating regulations, for the conditions in which such a thing became possible at all.

Yernat Toleugulov was removed from his post. Several officers were transferred. 

Original Author: Sandugash Duysenova