The court case between blogger Anton Budarov and public figure Sanzhar Bokayev has concluded in favour of the latter.
This was reported on his Facebook page by Bokayev's lawyer, Murat Adam. By a decision of the Bostandyk District Court of Almaty, the information disseminated by Budarov in his YouTube video dated 6 September 2024 was found to be false and damaging to the honour, dignity and business reputation of the plaintiff.
The court ordered the blogger to remove the disputed video, record and publish a 20-minute retraction under the headline ‘The court ordered me to retract false information regarding Bokayev Sanzhar Omarovich’. Budarov must also pay Bokayev 500 thousand tenge as compensation for moral harm and reimburse legal costs.
Incidentally, in December 2023, Anton Budarov was at the centre of a scandal after posting harsh comments on social media about the deceased Saltanat Nukenova. At the time, the blogger called her an ‘abuser’ and a ‘fraudster’, which sparked widespread public outcry.
In May, the court ordered the blogger to publish a retraction on his Instagram page and reimburse legal costs in the amount of 650 thousand tenge to Nukenova's relatives.