KAZAKHSTAN: STATE SECRETARY DECLINES TO

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000055 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, CA/OCS FRANKFURT FOR RCO E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2029 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR CASC RS KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: STATE SECRETARY DECLINES TO INTERVENE IN PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER'S CASE REF: A. 08 ASTANA 2410 (NOTAL) ¶B. 08 ASTANA 2576 Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (B),(D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Ministry of Internal Affairs investigators have recommended that the Prosecutor General charge Peace Corps Volunteer Anthony Sharp with violation of Article 251, Part 1, of the Kazakhstan Criminal Code, illegal possession of firearms (explosives) while trespassing in a restricted area near the town of Ridder in East Kazakhstan Oblast. We believe there is substantial reason to believe Sharp was set up as a political provocation designed to harm the image of the Peace Corps and the U.S.-Kazakhstan bilateral relationship. The Ambassador asked President Nazarbayev's confidante, State Secretary Saudabayev, to intervene to remove this irritant before President-elect Obama's January 20 inauguration, but Saudabayev surprisingly said he can do nothing. During the investigation phase, the case did not appear in the media, but once the trial begins it is likely to go public. We will continue to press at high levels for dismissal of this case (unlikely),and ask that the Department demarche Kazakhstan's Ambassador Idrisov about it. END SUMMARY. BACKGROUND ¶2. (SBU) At the suggestion of his Kazakhstani counterpart, Aleksei Aleksandrovich Grigorenko, and along with Grigorenko's acquiantance, Mikhail Vasilivich Petin, Peace Corps Volunteer Anthony Kavanaugh Sharp trespassed at a restricted area, a zinc mine of KazZink, late night on November 26. according to Sharp. As the three were about to leave the restricted area, Grigorenko asked Sharp to hold his bag. As the three departed the restricted area after midnight on Nevember 27, mine security and local Ministry of Interior (MVD) police detained Sharp and claimed to find industrial explosives in "his" bag. Officials confiscated Sharp's passport (he was scheduled to finish his two-year tour and leave Kazakhstan on December 2) and told him he could not leave the country until the investigation was completed. Peace Corps Country Director John Sasser and other Peace corps officials have been in close contact with Sharp, and the embassy has had consular access (REFTEL A). ¶3. (C) On December 31, the MVD investigator recommended Sharp be charged with violating Article 251, Part 1, of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan, illegal possession of firearms (explosives),which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. The Prosecutor General has 10 days to decide whether to charge Sharp and initiate a court case. Sharp has told us he was the only one of the three men in the mine who was apprehended. Although Sharp has video and photos to prove otherwise, the investigators refused to look at them. According to Sharp, the police received a tip-off as early as 20:00 hours that night that there would be trespassers at the mine, the bag he was caught with that allegedly contained explosives was not his, and the driver of the taxi they used to reach the mine has given false testimony. Further, the investigators have refused to check records of Grigorenko's cell-phone calls that night. ¶4. (C) While the investigation continued, the Embassy kept a relatively low profile. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Americas Director Taltgat Kaliyev described the case to EmbOffs as "serious" and began to suggest informally, although not request officially, that we consider a "prisoner exchange" for two Kazakhstani citizens in the United States, one in prison in Texas for murder and the other from whom the United States is already seeking to revoke asylum status for having obtained it under false pretenses. The Embassy has made clear at all levels that we reject any possibility of linkage and that an "exchange" is a non-starter. Both the Foreign ASTANA 00000055 002 OF 003 Ministry and the Embassy agreed we want to keep this incident out of the media. AMBASSADOR'S INTERVENTIONS ¶5. (C) During a private dinner on December 29, the Ambassador raised the case with Kazakhstan's former ambassador to Washington and current State Secretary Kanat Saudabayev (REFTEL B). The Ambassador pointed out the inconsistencies in the case and said we strongly suspect a set-up by those who would seek to harm the image of the Peace Corps and the bilateral relationship. Saudabayev said he was unaware of the case but would look into it. On Janury 6, the Ambassador met with Saudabayev's Chief of Staff Roman Vassilenko and went through the case in detail, emphasizing our suspicion that this is a provocation designed to harm the bilateral relationship. ¶6. (C) On January 9, the Ambassador presented a non-paper to Saudabayev that concluded with the following paragraphs: -- Should the case go to court, it is likely to become public. Neither Kazakhstan nor the United States wants that kind of publicity -- especially at the beginning of the new administration of U.S. President Barak Obama, who has already made a welcome gesture (a post-election phone call) to President Nazarbayev of his intention to build further our bilateral relationship. -- ...I am convinced this case is a political provocation specifically designed to harm U.S.-Kazakhstani relations -- although I emphasize I do not believe the highest level of the government of Kazakhstan was aware of the provocation. -- I ask that the government of Kazakhstan intevene at the highest levels to dismiss this case, declare Sharp persona non grata, and deport him immediately. I am certain the leadership of Kazakhstan wants this unpleasant situation concluded before the inauguration of President Obama on January 20. ¶7. (S) Saudabayev stepped into his private office with Vassilenko to read the paper. He then had Vassilenko tell the Ambassador, "The case is 'more complicated' than he first thought, and he can do nothing." APPEARANCE OF POLITICAL PROVOCATION ¶8. (C) Assuming Sharp is telling us the truth, and we have no reason to doubt him, we strongly suspect this case is indeed a political provocation: Sharp went to the restricted zinc mine at Grigorenko's instigation; Grigorgenko handed Sharp a bag to hold as they were about the exit the mine premises; law-enforcement authorities allegedly received a tip-off call earlier in the evening and were waiting for them; the investigators have refused to examine all evidence. When an Embassy ConOff met with local law-enforcement officials in Ridder on December 3, they told him they believed Sharpe "had been used by others" and they did not think he acted with criminal intent. Law-enforcement officials planting firearms/explosives/drugs on an intended victim is a classic Soviet-style maneuver in this part of the world. ¶9. (S) Why would the government do this? We know from their many interventions during the past months that the government, and specifically Committee for National Security (KNB) Chairman Amangeldy Shabdarbayev, remains disappointed at best and deeply annoyed that the United States refuses to assist Kazakhstan with what it considers its most urgent and high-profile case, the extradition from Europe of Nazarbayev's former son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev. Further, we know that Russia's intent is to limit U.S. influence and ASTANA 00000055 003 OF 003 presence in Central Asia, and Kazakhstan's KNB is extremely close to Russian intelligence agencies. Peace Corps would be an extremely low-hanging fruit. SHARP'S APARTMENT ATTACKED ¶10. (C) At about 04:00 hours on January 11, someone threw a piece of metal through a window of the apartment where Sharp has been living. He was not injured. No other windows in the apartment building were broken. Later in the day he left his apartment and moved back in with his original host family. Peace Corps Country Director Sasser instructed Sharp to report the incident to the police and advised him to take extra precautions, like not walking around the town alone at night. NEXT STEPS ¶11. (C) As soon as Foreign Minister Marat Tazhin returns from vacation on January 19, the Ambassador will request a meeting to lay out, once again, the political consequences of this case, especially at the beginning of a new U.S. presidential administration. He will emphasize that Sharp's family has kept silent so far; but as soon as the case goes to court will publicize the case in the media, as they have said they will do, and likely will contact their Congressional representative. We also ask that the Department call in Kazakhstan's Ambassador Erlan Idrisov and make the same case. HOAGLAND