Request for change of measure of punishment for Seytkazy Matayev is rejected under any pretexts

Almaty. July 21. Silkroadnews – The head of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan Seytkazy Matayev is denied in replacement of the jail time with a personal restraint, wrongly taking the dates for such a replacement and seeking damages for what is being recovered already, KazTAG reports.
“The court session was held today (July 20 – KazTAG). We requested to remove the judge, our request was denied. The judge considered our application and refused to apply the personal restraint”, Madina Bakiyeva, lawyer, said on Thursday.
With this, she noted, the defense team submitted all the arguments for personal restraint.
“We have provided information from the Department of Justice verifying the damages are being recovered, provided information on the seizure of property, provided medical report by the prison doctor saying that Seitkazy Matayev is seek and staying at the medical block, provided a certificate of good conduct from the correctional facility. The facility’s administration did not object to changing the punishment, yet the prosecutor’s office objected, referring to the fact that the damage is not reimbursed”, M. Bakiyeva said.
She added, the legal term for changing the sentence came on May 15, but authorities added another month to it.
“As of June 19, S.Matayev had already served twelve months and several days. But the authorities and the correctional institution incorrectly counted the terms, and, according to their version, the term for replacement of punishment came not earlier than on July 11”, M. Bakiyeva explained.
The court session on replacing the sentence of S. Matayev was postponed three times. It was to be held in the Kapshagai City Court on July 20, but after the arrival of journalists was suddenly transferred to a correctional facility.
To remind, on October 3, 2016, the Astana court found the head of the union of journalists of Kazakhstan Seitkazy Matayev guilty of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property. General Director of KazTAG Asset Matayev was found guilty of fraud, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
On December 9, 2016, the Appeal Board of the Astana Court left the main punishment of Matayevs unchanged, changing only the terms of deprivation of the right to hold managerial positions from life to 10 years.
In early April 2017, at the penitentiary’s request, the unexpired term of imprisonment was reduced by a half – by 2 years and 8 months – for S. Matayev.