The author of the YouTube channel "Obozhayu", journalist Askhat Niyazov, was detained on the grounds that he allegedly caused a disturbance at the Akimat of Almaty.
It is known that at the time of his detention, the journalist was recording material near the Akimat building for a piece to coincide with City Day.
In the video, Askhat Niyazov can be seen getting into a patrol car accompanied by police officers. His camera operator gets into the police car after him.
The author of the video asks the journalist the reason for the detention, to which he receives the reply: "…I allegedly caused a disturbance at the Akimat.".
Regarding the detention of the camera operator, the police officers cited a certain report submitted by the Akimat security service.
"The Akimat security service wrote a report claiming that suspicious individuals were walking around the building," the police officers commented on the detention.
It is known that Mr Niyazov was taken to the Bostandyk District Police Department, without, however, being given the opportunity to call relatives or a lawyer.
The journalist was released shortly after he explained to the police officers that he was only looking for the Akim in order to ask him some questions.
"Akimat employees filed a statement. And that statement was received yesterday evening. What amazes me most is that 6-7 people came for me in 2 cars. They could have simply called and said 'come in'," said Askhat Niyazov.
Colleagues are already offering conjectures regarding the real reason for the journalist's detention.
"As I understand it, Askhat Niyazov was detained on the basis of Dosayev's report? Lately, there's a clear trend of officials rapidly and inexorably becoming 'bronze-age', officials who just yesterday were straining to fit into the 'listening Kazakhstan', and today are gleefully interpreting the lines from the president's address about combating, frankly, 'baiting' as an ironclad reason to do the exact opposite," wrote journalist Dmitry Shishkin on his personal Facebook page.