Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASTANA1966
2008-10-03 07:52:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Astana
Cable title:
KAZAKHSTAN: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS INTERVIEW
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UNCLAS ASTANA 001966
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS INTERVIEW
OPPOSITION LEADERS
REF: ASTANA 1872 (NOTAL)
UNCLAS ASTANA 001966
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS INTERVIEW
OPPOSITION LEADERS
REF: ASTANA 1872 (NOTAL)
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Three opposition leaders met separately
with criminal investigators on September 29 in connection
with charges that they harbored a fugitive in a murder case.
Authorities named one of the three, OSDP Deputy Chairman
Amirzhan Kosanov, a witness, rather than a suspect -- a move
Kosanov believes was an attempt to split the opposition. The
case has received very little media coverage in recent days.
END SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) We spoke separately on October 2 with three of the
four Kazakhstani opposition figures who are the subject of a
criminal investigation launched by the Ministry of Internal
Affairs on September 24 -- Azat party leader Bulat Abilov,
National Social Democratic Party (OSDP) Deputy Chairman
Amirzhan Kosanov, and Shanyrak movement head Asylbek
Kozhakhmetov. The fourth, Alga party Chairman Vladimir
Kozlov, is in Warsaw, reportedly attending the OSCE's annual
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting.
4. (SBU) As reported in reftel, the four leaders are under
investigation for harboring a fugitive from justice, a
businessman named Yesentay Baisakov, who fled to Ukraine in
2003. The authorities maintain that Baisakov, who was
previously linked to the now defunct Democratic Choice of
Kazakhstan (DVK) opposition party, is a suspect in a 2001
murder in Pavlovdar. The criminal case against the
opposition leaders is apparently based on the fact that they
signed letters in 2005 and 2007 in support of Baisakov's
successful political asylum claim in Ukraine.
5. (SBU) Abilov, Kosanov, and Kozhakhmetov told us that they
each met with criminal investigators on September 29. Abilov
was informed that he would be interviewed as a suspect, in
the presence of a defense lawyer. When Abilov explained that
his attorney was out of the country, the investigators agreed
that the interview could be postponed until October 6.
Abilov maintained to us that he believes the authorities are
"inclined to see this case through to the end."
6. (SBU) Kozhakhmetov informed us that he was interviewed by
investigators as a suspect, with his lawyer present. He
signed a document which compels him to notify the authorities
if he leaves Almaty. (NOTE: Kozhakhmetov contended to the
Deputy Chief of Mission on September 26 that that there are
no legal grounds for the case against the opposition leaders,
since the law defines "harboring" as providing physical
shelter, which they did not give to Baisakov. END NOTE.)
7. (SBU) Kosanov told us that investigators came to see him
at the OSDP's main office. He was interviewed as a witness,
not as a suspect. The investigators were principally
interested in determining who initiated the letters in
support of Baisakov. Kosanov told them that he did not
remember. The investigators seized a record book of outgoing
correspondence.
8. (U) The case has received very little media coverage in
recent days. There was only a small article about it in the
October 2 edition of the weekly opposition newspaper "Svoboda
Slova," which included a brief interview with Kosanov. In
the interview, he maintained that the authorities named him
as a witness rather than as a suspect to try to cause a split
the opposition, but this plan had failed in its aim.
HOAGLAND
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATORS INTERVIEW
OPPOSITION LEADERS
REF: ASTANA 1872 (NOTAL)
1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet.
2. (SBU) SUMMARY: Three opposition leaders met separately
with criminal investigators on September 29 in connection
with charges that they harbored a fugitive in a murder case.
Authorities named one of the three, OSDP Deputy Chairman
Amirzhan Kosanov, a witness, rather than a suspect -- a move
Kosanov believes was an attempt to split the opposition. The
case has received very little media coverage in recent days.
END SUMMARY.
3. (SBU) We spoke separately on October 2 with three of the
four Kazakhstani opposition figures who are the subject of a
criminal investigation launched by the Ministry of Internal
Affairs on September 24 -- Azat party leader Bulat Abilov,
National Social Democratic Party (OSDP) Deputy Chairman
Amirzhan Kosanov, and Shanyrak movement head Asylbek
Kozhakhmetov. The fourth, Alga party Chairman Vladimir
Kozlov, is in Warsaw, reportedly attending the OSCE's annual
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting.
4. (SBU) As reported in reftel, the four leaders are under
investigation for harboring a fugitive from justice, a
businessman named Yesentay Baisakov, who fled to Ukraine in
2003. The authorities maintain that Baisakov, who was
previously linked to the now defunct Democratic Choice of
Kazakhstan (DVK) opposition party, is a suspect in a 2001
murder in Pavlovdar. The criminal case against the
opposition leaders is apparently based on the fact that they
signed letters in 2005 and 2007 in support of Baisakov's
successful political asylum claim in Ukraine.
5. (SBU) Abilov, Kosanov, and Kozhakhmetov told us that they
each met with criminal investigators on September 29. Abilov
was informed that he would be interviewed as a suspect, in
the presence of a defense lawyer. When Abilov explained that
his attorney was out of the country, the investigators agreed
that the interview could be postponed until October 6.
Abilov maintained to us that he believes the authorities are
"inclined to see this case through to the end."
6. (SBU) Kozhakhmetov informed us that he was interviewed by
investigators as a suspect, with his lawyer present. He
signed a document which compels him to notify the authorities
if he leaves Almaty. (NOTE: Kozhakhmetov contended to the
Deputy Chief of Mission on September 26 that that there are
no legal grounds for the case against the opposition leaders,
since the law defines "harboring" as providing physical
shelter, which they did not give to Baisakov. END NOTE.)
7. (SBU) Kosanov told us that investigators came to see him
at the OSDP's main office. He was interviewed as a witness,
not as a suspect. The investigators were principally
interested in determining who initiated the letters in
support of Baisakov. Kosanov told them that he did not
remember. The investigators seized a record book of outgoing
correspondence.
8. (U) The case has received very little media coverage in
recent days. There was only a small article about it in the
October 2 edition of the weekly opposition newspaper "Svoboda
Slova," which included a brief interview with Kosanov. In
the interview, he maintained that the authorities named him
as a witness rather than as a suspect to try to cause a split
the opposition, but this plan had failed in its aim.
HOAGLAND