In the Turkestan region, a blogger, public activist, and representative of the «S-Inform» newspaper, Rustem Ashetayev, has been detained. This was reported by journalist Amangeldy Batyrbekov.
According to the Telegram channel «HALYQSTAN», Batyrbekov said that Ashetayev was detained by officers from the investigative department of the Turkestan region police department and the organised crime unit.
It is noted that a criminal case has been opened against him under Article 194 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("Extortion"), and law enforcement officers are conducting covert investigative and search activities. Despite requests from journalists, the regional police department has not yet commented on the situation.
It has become known that previously, Ashetayev had repeatedly criticised the leadership of the regional police in his publications, including General Kabdenov, claiming that he refused to meet with him.
This is not the first case of bloggers being detained on suspicion of extortion in Kazakhstan.
Recall that in January, police in Almaty detained an entrepreneur and two bloggers suspected of blackmail and threats to publish compromising material on social networks. It was reported that the perpetrators were demanding 8 million tenge.
In February, in the village of Karabalyk, Karabalyk district, Kostanay region, blogger Mirshad Sarsenbayev was detained on suspicion of extorting 15 million tenge.
In April, in Shymkent, a blogger suspected of extorting 1.2 million tenge from a teacher at a secondary school was detained.
In May, in Petropavlovsk, two bloggers were sentenced for extorting money from the «Magnum» and «Semeyny» retail chains. They were accused of extorting money in exchange for stopping so-called "raids" and negative coverage on social networks. The defendants recorded their visits to these stores on mobile phones, gathering information whose disclosure could have harmed the interests of the owners.