On January 17, the Karasai District Court of Almaty region announced a verdict in the case on torture in a special detention center in Koshmambet village during the bloody events in early January 2022, Azattyk reports.
The victims are citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan detained during these days, including a jazz musician Vikram Ruzahunov from the Kyrgyz Republic.
The court found Bauyrzhan Sopakov, Arman Shoibekov, Berik Abilbekov (former deputy head of the Almaty Police Department), Olzhas Aidarkhanov, Serik Turpanov and Nursultan Khamitov guilty of using torture against the detainees and sentenced them to three years in prison.
The court also decided to strip them of their ranks. The defendants were taken into custody in the courtroom. They have 15 days to appeal the verdict.
Hearing of this case started on September 16, 2024. The police officers were charged with cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, torture and abuse of power or official authority.
On January 9, 2022, social media and Kazakh TV channels showed a video, in which a man says that he came to Kazakhstan to participate in a rally in Almaty. It is said in the video that some people called the Kyrgyzstani on January 1 and offered to participate in the rally for $ 200. The man was identified as the head of a jazz orchestra from Bishkek Vikram Ruzakhunov.
Activists and journalists of Kyrgyzstan appealed to the authorities of the two countries with a request to release the detained musician and return him to his homeland. He crossed the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border on January 10 at 6.40 p.m.
«All my evidence in the video is false. Bruises and scratches appeared on January 7, it was a harsh detention with the use of force,» the musician told journalists after arrival in Bishkek.
Criminal cases have been initiated on the fact of detention and ill-treatment of Kyrgyzstanis Cholponbek Sydykov and Vikram Ruzakhunov.
At the end of last year, the jazz musician filed a lawsuit against Kazakhstani police officers demanding compensation for torture in the amount of 61 million tenge. He wants material and moral damages to be compensated to him by six former police officers, who were convicted on January 17, 2025 in the case on torture.
