A court hearing has commenced in Pavlodar regarding a scandalous case of extortion involving the deputy governor of the Pavlodar region, Serik Batyrguzhinov. The official's acquaintance with the defendant reportedly originated on social media.
Serik Batyrguzhinov accuses a woman he met a year ago of extortion. According to the indictment, it all began online.
In late April 2023, an unemployed widow, born in 1985 and queuing for housing as a "families with disabled children" category, met the deputy governor of the Pavlodar region on social media. On May 19, 2023, around 6:30 pm, she was received in his office, as stated in the indictment.
Subsequently, the official and the new acquaintance maintained contact. From May to September 2023, he provided her with financial assistance ranging from 50,000 to 160,000 tenge.
In late September 2023, the defendant asked Serik Batyrguzhinov to give her money, to which he refused. At that moment, a criminal intent arose for unlawful gain, as read by the state prosecutor Azamat Garifulla.
The woman threatened the official in September 2023 to disclose their intimate relations in the office to his wife and spread the information on social media.
By putting Batyrguzhinov in a necessary psychological state, she illegally demanded $10,000 from him. Feeling the threat was real and fearing the damage to his reputation and interests, he agreed to the illegal demand.
Through an acquaintance, the official transferred 4.8 million tenge to the defendant's mobile bank. Subsequently, she demanded 20 million tenge from him.
Fearing the spread of damaging information, Batyrguzhinov turned to law enforcement when threatened, as concluded by the prosecution.
According to the indictment, an examination of the correspondence between the man and the woman revealed actual threats.
Thus, the defendant committed a criminal offense under Article 194, Part 4, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan – extortion in an especially large amount, involving the demand for transfer of another's property under the threat of disseminating information damaging to the victim or their relatives.
The woman faces up to seven years of imprisonment under this article.
During the preliminary court session, the woman claimed she was raped in the deputy governor's office during a personal meeting in May 2023, which is why the official supported her. She reported this to the police when the extortion case was opened against her. However, law enforcement verification did not confirm her claims, and the rape case was closed.
The court hearing is taking place in a specialized inter-district court with the participation of jurors. Today, on April 22, the defendant informed them that she does not fully admit guilt.
