Kozlov

In August 2012 a team of four observers from the Solicitors International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) attended the trial of Vladimir Kozlov, Seryck Sapargali and Akzhanat Aminov. These men were accused of fomenting a protest that led to death and destruction on 16th December 2011 in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan. The trial was before a single Judge sitting in the District Court of Mangistau in the City of Aktau. The observation team comprised of practising solicitors Lionel Blackman and Ruby Sandhu and Russian speaking members Alexandra Zernova and Marija Musja. 

 Aminov, Sapargali and Kozlov and the latter's lawyers in the foreground at the trial.

Casting a shadow over this case is the former Kazakhstan politician, businessman and banker, Mukhtar Ablyazov. He is accused of stealing a staggering £5 billion from the Kazakh BTA Bank. At the time of writing he is still on the run from the Kazakhstan authorities and the High Court in London, United Kingdom. The High Court sentenced him to 22 months imprisonment for lying in legal proceedings about his assets. He featured in this case as a “leader” and “financial backer” of “Kozlov’s Alga Party.” Thus, the cause of Kozlov is not a popular one for all in the international community or of course for all in Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, we approached this case as we would any other. That is to say, with an objective examination of the trial. Similarly, we put out of our minds generalized assumptions that some will voice about the human rights reputation of the State of Kazakhstan.  We maintained an open mind throughout about whether the accused were receiving a fair trial or not.

The key finding was: "In the opinion of the observers the verdicts of guilty against Kozlov were not justified by either the evidence presented to the Court or the reasoning in the final Judgment."

The 80 page Report may be copied in full without prior permission. Translated versions may not be issued without permission from the Solicitors’ International Human Rights Group. Contact admin@sihrg.org.

The Report is available by downloading the pdf file below. For those without a pdf reader we have posted the full text of the report to a web page (this may also enable web based software generated rough translations for a basic insight for non-English language readers.)