Sherzat Polat: What is Happening in Yenbekshikazakh District?

Orda.kz received a message that inspectors from the Administration of the President were sent from Astana to the school where Sherzat Polat studied. The school is in Azat in the Yenbekshikazakh district. Correspondents quickly went to the scene. 

Journalists were not allowed into the school and told that the director and other employees would not give interviews or short comments. 

We talked to some students about whether they faced extortion at school. All of them said that nothing like that had happened to them.

People were waiting for the journalists at the school's exit. They told them about the injustices they face. They are not from Azat but are associated with the Yenbekshikazakh district. 

The message about the Astana delegation was meant to draw journalists to Azat in an attempt to solve problems. 

A family from Yesik said that a year and a half ago, their son Aibolat Muratkhan, born in 2008, who studied at the Aimen school, was assaulted by a group of students. They reportedly extorted money from schoolchildren. The boy ended up in the hospital, where he passed away from damage to his internal organs. Doctors documented severe hematomas. 

However, the police did not open a criminal case. Allegedly, the boy died of an illness. Aibolat's classmates, however, confirm that older students came to their school and demanded money. And Aibolat constantly asked his parents and other relatives for money. That very day, two young men named Zhandos and Meyrambek assaulted him. 

The family exhumed the body, which confirmed the teenager's death from blunt force injuries. All the evidence was collected. The family said the police still did not open a case. 

Another woman, Aiman ​​Betimshimova, said her daughter studies at the Abay boarding school in the Turksib district of Almaty. There, she has long faced mistreatment, both by teachers and students. 

The woman blames the former school director for this. He allegedly rents out some of the school premises. And a security guard and a cleaning lady live there permanently. 

Then, the director was dismissed, and a new one came. However, the bullying did not stop. When asked why the woman did not transfer her daughter to another school, she could not answer definitively. She only criticized the head of the Almaty Region Education Department, Saltanat Bespayeva, who was also allegedly responsible for what happened at the Abay boarding school. 

Zarima Kozhmambetova, who claimed the AP delegation came to Azat, also has grievances against Saltanat Bespayeva. According to her, she previously worked as a chief specialist in the Almaty Region Education Department. She was allegedly dismissed for openly speaking about various violations in the department. 

When asked where the delegation was, the woman could not answer. 

Journalists later talked to residents about Azat. 

However, only two residents agreed to speak on camera. 

The others asked not to record them but also confirmed that their village is quiet and peaceful, with no criminal groups.

They also say the alleged Khutor group is irrelevant; the area known as Khutor is quite far from Azat, separated by the city of Talgar. 

After that, the journalists headed to the Sherzat Polat family's house, which had burnt down. However, they could not approach. A patrol car was on duty near the house, and a police officer said the area was off-limits. 

There was also a military radar vehicle. It is unknown why it is there.

Original Author: Danil Utyupin