The Akmola regional branch of the OSDP party has acknowledged that the head of the district branch Azamat Kenzhebulatov attended the meeting of the cooperative's dacha owners specifically as a party representative. However, in the same letter, the party denies any connection with the media campaign against the cooperative and with the resource Mikrafon․kz, even though Kenzhebulatov himself is the head of this project.
BACKGROUND
At the end of April, a series of posts from the resource Mikrafon․kz appeared on social networks in the Burabay district, containing accusations against the chair of the cooperative 'Shchuchinskoye Voluntary Association of Amateur Gardeners' ('Shchuchinskoye DTSL') Bakhtiyar Gabdullin.
During its investigation, the FBRK established that the founder of the Mikrafon․kz project is Azamat Kenzhebulatov - the head of the district branch of the 'National Social Democratic Party' (NSDP). In his social media profiles, he himself describes Mikrafon․kz as his own project and links it to the party.
The full FBRK investigation can be read via the link.
The FBRK editorial team sent an official journalistic inquiry to the NSDP, asking it to assess the actions of the district leader and the connection between the party structure and the media campaign. The inquiry was forwarded to the regional level.
WHAT THE PARTY REPLIED
In a letter signed by the chair of the Akmola regional branch of the NSDP, Iliyas Zhangali, the party confirmed that Kenzhebulatov attended the meeting of dacha owners as an official party representative.
'The chair of the primary party organisation of the Party for the Burabay district, Kenzhebulatov Azamat Saparovich, attended the meeting as a representative of the Party, carrying out the receipt and consideration of citizens' appeals.'
Nevertheless, according to the NSDP, no conclusions about the party's involvement in the information campaign follow from this:
'The fact of A.S. Kenzhebulatov's participation in a public meeting does not indicate the involvement of the NSDP in any information campaigns or conflicts surrounding the activities of the dacha cooperative.'
The party describes Mikrafon․kz as an independent media resource not affiliated with the NSDP. It qualifies attempts to link events to the party as 'artificial' and 'lacking factual basis'.
CONTRADICTION IN ONE LETTER
The party confirms: Kenzhebulatov attended the meeting as a representative of the NSDP. Open sources record that: on the Mikrafon․kz website, he is listed as the project head, and in his own social media profiles, he calls this publication his project, placing it in the same category as the NSDP.
Thus, the head of the NSDP PPO for the Burabay district, who acted at the meeting on behalf of the party, is simultaneously the head of the media resource that conducted the information campaign against the cooperative.
The party, however, insists on the lack of connection between Mikrafon․kz and the NSDP, without commenting on the public statements of Kenzhebulatov himself.
Significantly, the party's response contains not a single word about what Kenzhebulatov himself says about Mikrafon․kz in his own public profiles. Denying the connection without explaining the words of the person at its centre is not a refutation. It is an absence of one.