What Is Known about Those Who Sexually Exploited Qyzylorda Girl

We continue to learn the details of the story from Qyzylorda, where a high school student spent eight months in sexual exploitation. After a series of contradictory news stories on this topic, an Orda.kz journalist went to Qyzylorda to conduct her own investigation.

What Does The School Have to Say?

We visited School-Lyceum No. 7, where the girl studied. The deputy director told us about the school's environment. There were 19 students in her class, most activists and engaged in school life. According to her, the institution is decent, mostly without scandals, and has a claim to quality education. The girl studied in a class with Kazakh as the language of instruction.

During this conversation, we learned that the news about the dismissal of school staff is not entirely true. The deputy director claims that the dismissal of the class teachers, psychologists, and head teachers is still under consideration. They may be able to return to work in the upcoming school year.

The atmosphere at the school and among the students' parents is quite tense.

Parents are different. There are those who follow their children's lead. There are parents who understand that upbringing is a joint effort between the family and the school. And there are those who shift all responsibility for upbringing exclusively to the school. There were cases when documents were withdrawn from the school after this scandal, the deputy director emphasized.

However, according to the interviewee, the girl's class was one of the best in the school, with high results among the students. Many of them were activists and even founded their local theater. Regarding the victim and her family, the deputy director preferred not to go into details. She said the girl seemed fine, and there were no visible signs of violence on her.

It was never as such that the girl came with bruises or looked exhausted. From the photographs, you can see that she looked fine. She has light, soft skin. There were no marks or burns. She would come to rehearsal in a short blouse, as is now fashionable among young people, but there were no visible signs of violence. Where her mother got such things, I do not know. Perhaps this is an attempt at self-defense, she added. 

The school's deputy principal said the girl's relationship with her mother was complicated. Allegedly, the mother was often absent, leaving her daughter in the care of her father.

The mother personally approached me to help her make contact with the girl. Now, you see, she is her daughter's protector. The mother, who had not been home for six months, left the girl in the father's care. No one took care of the girl. We essentially could not do anything because she lived with her biological father. And when the girl did not come to school, and the class teacher reached out to the father, he said: 'Yes, she is with her friend; I gave her permission' the deputy director said.

What Dina Tansari Says

NeMolchi's head, Dina Tansari, said that the girl was constantly subjected to cruel torture. Her exploiters beat her and burned her with hot cellophane, leaving marks on her stomach. They also set fire to paper and threw it on her, including on her underwear, laughed, and filmed it all on video. 

According to Tansari, the girl was registered on "Kyzdar.net." The exploiters assigned her a working day and the amount she should earn daily.

They got a taste for it; their appetites grew with each passing day. Seeing that she couldn't fight back, the souteneurs were convinced of the effectiveness of their threats and began to demand more and more. The number of men she serviced also increased, and they no longer had any disincentives. They wanted more money and set a certain amount that she had to earn, Tansari said.

In May 2024, as NeMolchi's head said, the girl worked from 3 p.m. until the morning. She provided intimate services in one exploiter's apartment.

What Peers Say 

There are currently three known minors suspected of pandering, two of whom are the victim's classmates.

According to our source at the school, the victim, Laura, had a long-standing close friendship with one of her alleged exploiters, Aigul. They were best friends. Aigul would often observe the victim at school. Like the second suspect, Dauren, Aigul reportedly had an unpleasant character and a tendency to conflict. 

Our source notes that Aigul came to school, while Laura was rarely seen in class; the school hardly reacted to her frequent absences. 

"I can't say how often she was absent from school, but even if she was, the teachers and head teachers wouldn't have noticed. At school, no one cared about you or your attendance. There were times when they could scold you, but it was rare and more for show. The teachers weren't so attentive to notice whether the girl was being beaten or not. Of course, she needed a helping hand, she was too weak-willed to help herself. But no one noticed it. And those who knew about it were on the side of evil, said our interlocutor.

The second suspect, Dauren, according to the source, was highly confrontational, impudent, and often insulted girls. 

Everyone can confirm that he really did insult girls. He always went unpunished and spoke mostly with boys. He and his group often spent time outside of school, they had common interests. They often walked about near the school and in the food courts of the shopping malls, the interlocutor emphasized. 

Dauren was in a relationship with Aigul's sister Dilnaz. Despite his young age, he gifted her a clothing store in the Baiuzaq Plaza shopping center. Our source suggests that the money for this was earned through sexually exploiting Laura.

Dauren also has two brothers, or sworn brothers, born in 2004, who also allegedly raped Laura. One raped her right in the car, and the second, I don't know, but they took her together, the source said.

Our second source confirmed that someone from Dauren's family had indeed gifted or rented the store. We went there, but by 11 a.m., the boutique was still closed. People in a nearby boutique told us that the clothing store always opens later than it should. Sometimes, the boutique is open for only a few hours, closer to the evening.

They are not conducting serious commerce, that’s the impression one gets, said a woman.

We also found the suspects' social media pages. Their photos often mention surahs, quotes from the Quran, and other religious references. As our source claims, this is for show. 

They weren't religious. They just depicted it, mentioned religion in their videos to seem fashionable. They drank alcohol. Dauren got really drunk in front of parents at the farewell formal. He ran from the police. Their whole class had a predisposition to a luxurious life, they tried to seem more mature and rich. Especially these two,The source said.

There were also rumors at the school that Dauren had relatives in law enforcement agencies. In some photos, he is holding an official ID card with friends in a car. We decided to find out who owned the vehicle in Dauren's photos. It turned out that the state numbers were deregistered since the car's owner is an agency employee. 

Another of our sources also mentioned that one suspect has adults who are capable of intervening on the minors' behalf. We were told that the first time, the suspects were placed under house arrest only thanks to their connections. However, when the case received considerable attention and went beyond the city, their capabilities ran thin.

The source added that Laura always looked well-groomed but was often sad, pensive, and withdrawn. She attended school throughout all these years and was calm and non-confrontational, unlike many of her peers. 

How The Sex-work Market Operates in Qyzylorda

We also spoke with a local sex worker to find out how the intimate services market operates in Qyzylorda. According to her, the site "Kyzdar.net" continues to work in the city actively, and the prices for services are significantly lower than in Astana and Almaty.

Some girls are ready to provide services for 10 or 15 thousand tenge. But there are significantly fewer girls providing such services. There are other channels of work, such as traditional calls to saunas and other places, she said.

She also stressed that the victim would not have been able to work independently. According to her, the girl would have needed someone's help - working alone would have been too dangerous.

Working alone is dangerous, even for your own safety, someone has to protect you. People are different. We sometimes come across aggressive men. You say that her panderers are minors. I don't know how much they could, so to speak, help her. Most likely, they worked as her managers and simply received good money for this. Was there any point in them at all? Or there is someone older there, but we don't know about it,she summed up.

Original Authors: Olga Ibraeva, Arkhat Rakhimzhanov.

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.