Staff from the organised crime unit of the Turkestan Regional Police Department confirmed the detention of blogger Rustem Ashetayev.
According to the Telegram channel «HALYQSTAN» citing the agency, Ashetayev threatened to publish defamatory information about the victim on social media and received $2,000 from him. He later demanded an additional 4 million tenge.
Police detained the blogger while he was receiving a bribe at a café in the Sayram district. The suspect has been placed in a temporary detention centre, and an investigation is underway.
Earlier, journalist Amangeldy Batyrbekov reported that a blogger, public activist and representative of the newspaper «S-Inform», Rustem Ashetayev, had been detained in the Turkestan region. He noted that Ashetayev had previously repeatedly criticised the regional police leadership in his publications, including General Kabdenov, claiming that he refused to meet with him.