Serik Kudebayev is sentenced to 10 years in jail

Serik Kudebayev, the former head of the Police Department of the Almaty region has been sentenced to ten years in jail.

He was accused of leaving the building of the Police Department during the January unrest, although he was supposed to stay and lead the police personnel. At the time, Kudebayev left Taldykorgan and hid in a rural area in the Almaty region.

At the initial stage, the Office of the Prosecutor General accused Kudebayev of failure to use the authority that caused severe damage to many people. However, during the trial, prosecutors blamed him for abuse of power and torture against protesters.

Kudebayev was also accused of escaping from lawful custody in a separate case.

The general on the run

The court hearing on the Kudebayev case began in January 2023. However, he still hadn’t shown up in court by March. The authorities decided to bring him by force but he had already left the country to Kyrgyzstan and then Turkey. More than 300 border guard personnel were deployed to search for him. On April 27, Deputy Prosecutor General Berik Asylov confirmed that Kudebayev was arrested by Turkish authorities and would be extradited to Kazakhstan. On April 28, Kudebayev’s son Arman Myrzakulov said that his father voluntarily gave him up to the Turkish authorities, although the Office of the Prosecutor General said that this was not true. Kudebayev even applied for a resident permit in Turkey. The agency contacted Interpol and the Turkish Ministry of Justice to bring him back to the country.

Kudebayev served as the head of the Police Department of the Almaty region from January 2020 to February 18, 2022. In May 2022, he was officially declared a suspect in a case linked to the January 2022 events.

Earlier this month, a Kazakhstani court sentenced Karim Masimov, former chairman of the National Security Committee to 18 years in jail. Three of his deputies have also been sentenced to prison. During the unrest in January 2022, 238 people died in Kazakhstan.