Almaty City Court on 25 November discontinued proceedings in the administrative case against journalist Mikhail Kozachkov, whom Majilis deputy Bolatbek Nazhmetdinuly (Aliyev) had attempted to hold liable for defamation. The court ruled that there was no evidence of an offence.
The journalist reported this on his Telegram channel. According to Kozachkov, the city court's decision definitively upheld the ruling of the previous court, which on 7 November also found no evidence of an offence. In that instance, the judge ordered the case to be closed on similar grounds.
In his publications, which prompted the deputy's complaint, the journalist referred to materials from open sources and a verdict from 25 years ago.
As Kozachkov claims, in 1999 Bolatbek Nazhmetdinuly (Aliyev) was convicted of an official offence involving the illegal border passage of a flour truck and the destruction of documents. The journalist notes that the sentence was later commuted under an amnesty, and the official himself was dismissed from the customs service.
According to Kozachkov, several years later, the wording of his dismissal was altered through the courts, after which Nazhmetdinuly returned to public service and subsequently held the position of deputy akim of the South Kazakhstan Region. In 2023, he was elected as a deputy to the Majilis.
For his part, the deputy insisted that the journalist's information was false and sought to have Kozachkov held administratively liable.
The appeal court did not support his arguments. After the ruling came into force, Kozachkov stated his intention to recover legal costs.
“My legal team and I plan to recover all expenses for legal representation from those who unlawfully brought administrative proceedings against me — namely, Deputy Aliyev himself, local police officer Aidos Zhamishev, who drew up the unlawful report, Olzhas Yelgondiyev, head of the local police service of the Bostandyk District Police Department, and acting head of the department Denis Loskutov, who signed the documents,” the statement reads.