Zhasulan Abdimanap: Family Alleges Village Mafia Exploited Youth in Saryagash

Orda.kz spoke with the family of Zhasulan Abdimanap, who says a “mafia” operated in Saryagash, terrorizing the entire district.

The Backstory

Nineteen-year-old Zhasulan Abdimanap disappeared on February 20. Two days later, his body was found near the city with 14 stab wounds. He had been killed by fellow villagers.

On September 25, the Military Court’s Appeals Board upheld the initial verdicts: serviceman Murod Abdizhamilov was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while his two friends received prison terms of two to four years.

Family’s Claims

Relatives insist the three convicted youths were part of a larger network they call a mafia, which exploited teenagers in the village.

They say the group pressured boys as young as 18 to take out loans and then pocketed the money.

We only learned about everything after the tragedy. They collected money from schoolchildren, even demanding it at Zhasulan's birthday party. Several kids were forced to take out loans of 200,000-300,000 tenge. They asked our brother for money 'for his mother's treatment.' But it all turned out to be a scam,
 Zhasulan's brother said.

They took advantage of this. They dragged him into debt amounting to hundreds of thousands of tenge. A few days before his death, he admitted that he already owed 800,000,
said his friend Ruslan.

A Family Left With Debt

The victim’s mother learned of her son’s debts only after his funeral.

After my son's death, we found eight microloans. The total amount was almost a million. We've already paid half of them off. He never wanted to burden us. After high school, he didn't go to university, but he didn't take a paid course either. And in the village, he was simply cheated.

Bekzat and Nursultan Shektibayev were the ones who started collecting money from the boys. But they escaped punishment because they weren't there on the day of the murder. Even though they were the ones who got Zhasulan into debt,
his brother said.

Police Response

The Turkistan regional police deny the existence of organized criminal groups in the village, stating that “preventive work” is being carried out.

Zhasulan was the youngest of four children.

Original Author: Nazerke Yerkinbekkyzy