On 31 July, the Judicial Panel of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan will review materials concerning the chairman of the Inter-district Criminal Court (MSUD) of Astana, Kazhymukan Mekemtas. He is suspected of sending a forged letter in the name of judge Aisulu Slambekova, which has become the subject of a pre-trial investigation and internal inquiry.
To recall, in April it was reported that Kazhymukan Mekemtas was suspected of sending a fake complaint in the name of judge Aisulu Slambekova, containing accusations against the chairman of the city court, Akhan Zhumagulov. Letters bearing Slambekova's forged signature were sent to the Presidential Administration, the Supreme Court, and the Higher Judicial Council. Forensic examinations confirmed that the signatures were not Slambekova's, while video recordings and data from 'Sergek' cameras pointed to Mekemtas — his car was recorded during the dispatch of the letters.
According to Hronika.kz, on 14 April 2025, at an operational meeting of the Astana city court, Mekemtas confirmed that he had sent the envelopes, but stated that he had acted on the instructions of judge Slambekova.
It is noted that afterwards he began sending numerous complaints to various bodies, accusing the investigator of the illegality of the procedural actions carried out and of leaking information to the media. However, the prosecutor's office clarified that all investigative and operational actions complied with requirements.
It is reported that Mekemtas' activity has repeatedly become the subject of proceedings. Since his appointment in December 2023, the Astana MSUD had received numerous complaints from judges about the head's inaction, which forced them to apply directly to the city court for consultations.
In turn, Mekemtas filed a complaint against Slambekova, demanding that she be held criminally liable for alleged interference in the court's work, which led to an internal investigation.
At the same time, the judges of the MSUD sent a collective complaint against the chairman himself, pointing to an 'unhealthy atmosphere' within the team, blocking of the complaint submission system to the city court, and a lack of response to problematic issues.
As a result, in September 2024, at a plenary session of the city court, Mekemtas was severely reprimanded for the violations he had committed, which undermined the authority of the judiciary, and for failing to properly organise the work of the court entrusted to him.
According to reports, negative episodes in Mekemtas' work between January 2024 and July 2025 were brought before the judicial panel for discussion 13 times. These included recorded low judicial performance indicators, breaches of legality, and organisational failures — right down to disorder in the criminal case archive, which was only resolved after the intervention of the city court.
It is noted that based on the results of work for 2024, Mekemtas' performance was deemed unsatisfactory. However, the situation did not improve in the first half of 2025: judges of the Astana MSUD overturned or amended 63 sentences concerning 72 citizens — twice as many as in the same period of 2024.
One of the episodes involved a verdict handed down by Mekemtas himself to Nurbol Zhumabayev on 10 February 2025. The judge did not impose a mandatory additional penalty — a lifetime ban on driving vehicles — for which the sentence was amended on appeal, and the materials were forwarded to the Judicial Panel.
On 3 July 2025, the Judicial Panel issued Mekemtas a reprimand for a gross violation of the law in this case. Now, on 31 July, a new hearing awaits him — concerning the dispatch of letters in a colleague's name.