In the settlement of Karabalyk, Karabalyk District, Kostanay Region, blogger Mirshad Sarsenbayev has been detained on suspicion of extorting 15 million tenge.
According to the Telegram channel “HALYQSTAN”, the victim is a representative of “Poultry Agro”, which is involved in an investment project to revive a local poultry farm.
Sarsenbayev posted six videos online in which he claimed that the company was illegally occupying land plots. The video also shows piles of rubbish removed from the company's premises. In addition, the footage shows the company’s tractor taking a heap of dead and half-alive chicken carcasses to a landfill.
“In other words, they are literally discarding the birds alive, as confirmed by the video footage. This is a clear violation of the legal ban on cruelty to animals,” the statement reads.
The blogger demanded an inspection of the poultry farm and that those responsible be held accountable, but after the publications, he was caught red-handed on suspicion of extortion and receiving 15 million tenge.
“Meanwhile, according to our information, searches of his car and home yielded nothing, and the blogger himself revealed the whereabouts of the money. Lawyers sympathetic to Sarsenbayev claim on social media that procedural actions against him (including searches) were fraught with violations. There is information that Sarsenbayev was not informed of his procedural status as a suspect, whereas he was initially questioned as a witness with the right to a defence,” the statement reads.
It is worth recalling that in January, police in Almaty detained a businessman and two bloggers suspected of blackmail and threats to publish compromising material on social media. It was reported that the culprits were extorting 8 million tenge.