Former Orda Editor-in-Chief Faces Trial for Disseminating False Information

The case against former Orda editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova is set to begin on July 2 in Almaty, Kazakh media outlet Vlast reported. She will stand trial on charges under three separate articles of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code. While it has long been known that charges related to the dissemination of knowingly false information would be heard, the two other allegations, illegal entrepreneurship and the embezzlement of another’s property, were only recently made public. The trial begins seven months after Bazhkenova was arrested in Almaty and subsequently placed under house arrest, while multiple pieces of work-related equipment were seized from her apartment. Meanwhile, the offices of Orda.kz in both Astana and Almaty were raided by police and several of Bazhkenova’s colleagues taken in for questioning. The arrest has drawn criticism from several international organizations, with Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists voicing concern over Bazhkenova’s arrest. In the months since, other concurrent legal battles have unfolded, placing her lawyer at the time, Murat Adam, more in the spotlight than Bazhkenova herself. The case, which was originally meant to begin on June 26 but was rescheduled, has taken several turns over the past months, prompting observers to question the fairness of the trial. At the time of her arrest, it appeared that all the charges against Bazhkenova concerned the dissemination of knowingly false information related to Orda publications from 2024, as reported by RFE/RL. Since then, however, the scope of the case has grown. In the months leading up to her arrest, pressure was mounting on Bazhkenova as journalists at Orda experienced harassment by unknown actors. According to the outlet, this was a possible prelude to a hostile takeover of the organization by the little-known co-founder of Orda, Maksat Ganiyev, as previously covered by The Diplomat. Around this time, Bazhkenova contacted lawyer Murat Adam, who also ended up defending her during the first months following her arrest. Throughout December, Adam criticized the arrest of his client, stating, among other things, that she had been placed under house arrest without probable cause. He also claimed that he had not been allowed to participate in the investigation as a defense attorney, that the authorities had allowed Ganiyev to take over Orda, and that they had attempted to replace him as Bazhkenova’s lawyer. Claims like these landed Adam himself in the limelight when an Almaty court took steps to revoke his license to practice law in mid-January. This followed a complaint over Adam’s online comments regarding Bazhkenova’s case. In court, the plaintiffs presented 16 such comments for the judges to review, many of which Adam quickly denied having written. According to Adam, the case against him was purely politically motivated and intended to remove him from Bazhkenova’s defense. The now formerly licensed lawyer voiced this opinion in an interview with The Diplomat. As the trial is set to begin, a new lawyer has been appointed to represent Bazhkenova by the Almaty City Bar Association. The new legal team will now have to deal not only with the allegations of disseminating knowingly false information, but also with charges of illegal entrepreneurship and the embezzlement of another’s property, which were recently added. These new charges are connected to the controversy involving Ganiyev, who has previously claimed that Bazhkenova mismanaged funds belonging to the media outlet. After the trial dates became public, Orda’s new director, Ganiyev, spoke about the case in multiple posts on Telegram. In the posts, Ganiyev described himself as the sole founder of Orda in 2020 while restating his financial claims against Bazhkenova, demanding the “return of everything she owes me and took from the editorial team.” Despite this, Ganiyev stated that he personally does not want to see Bazhkenova deprived of her freedom. With the trial beginning this week, Bazhkenova’s fate may soon become clear. What impact the case will ultimately have on Kazakhstan’s media landscape, however, is likely to take longer to determine.