Former boxer Arman Dzhumageldiev is now fighting for his freedom after being framed for gun possession, denied access to an attorney, and publicly pronounced guilty before his trial begins, according to human rights attorney Yevgeniy Yavorskiy.
The case represents a gross violation of due process, with Dzhumageldiev becoming a victim of the kind of human rights violations against prisoners cited in a 2022 US State Department Report, Yavorskiy said. The prosecutor’s press conferences and government reports declaring guilt, and the decision to refer the case to a special prosecutor, have turned Dzumageldiev into a political prisoner, he added.
“Arman Dzumageldiev’s case is being expedited in the courts without any presence of due process, while his rights to fair trial and defense are continuously obstructed,” according to an online statement by Yavorskiy.
Dzhumageldiev was arrested on a weapon possession charge during the “Bloody January” unrest in Kazakhstan in 2022 that led to 227 deaths and more than 9,000 arrests.
“During those fatal days, Kazakstan was without leadership, without the presence of the government,” Yavorskiy said in an interview. “Dzhumageldiev actually tried to calm everybody down. He was trying to stop the looting. He was addressing people, he was urging them to stop, and he was trying very hard to channel their frustration into a more productive direction.”
In a country where there is major discontent from a poor populace, authorities are wary of any non-government figure who is well known and liked but is outside of the government, according to Yavorskiy. That is probably why Dzhumageldiev was detained on false charges, he said.
Video evidence that Dzhumageldiev was framed
In a June 14 press conference in Washington DC, Yavorskiy shared a video he said was obtained from a hotel security camera. The video shows Dzhumageldiev being confronted by armed men with their faces covered and made to sit on the floor. Once he and his companions are seated with their hands behind their backs, they are beaten and kicked, the video shows. At one point, one of the assailants appears to put a pistol on the ground.
The suspicious behavior shown during the arrest is only compounded by the behavior of authorities after the arrest: Dzhumageldiev has been denied legal representation, he has been pressured to confess while in custody, and the prosecutor publicly declares him guilty, Yavorskiy said.
“According to our constitution, no one should be considered guilty until their guilt is determined legally. Yet the attorney general announced across the whole country that Arman Dzhumageldiev is an organized crime mastermind and that he’s guilty of inciting riots,” Yavorskiy said in the interview.
“With the prosecutor’s office demanding an expedited trial and providing the defense with thousands of case pages for review on very short notice, there are growing concerns over unfair trial and sentence in this political case,” according to Yavorskiy’s update on the case.
Yavorskiy, who had been Dzhumageldiev’s primary legal representative, said he was removed from the case by the prosecutor. Yavorskiy said he could not face prosecution himself, because the lead prosecutor said his efforts to call attention to the violation of his client’s rights were deemed “undesirable” activity in the media.
Meanwhile, Dzhumageldiev’s other lawyers have not been able to officially assist their client, and they are deterred from bringing forward evidence proving his innocence, Yavorskiy said.
A popular figure
Dzhumageldiev, who rose from poverty to achieve success in boxing and then business, has achieved some popularity based on his charity among the poor people of Kazakhstan, Yavorskiy said. Even though he was in Istanbul during the pandemic, he arranged medical assistance for Kazakhstan.
Dzhumageldiev has also had past run-ins with the law, perhaps in part because his popularity among the people is threatening to the unstable government, but his reputation should not mean he is denied his basic rights, Yavorskiy said.
“I’m not saying he’s a good man or a bad man. I just want to say that Arman is a very illustrative case in point of the lawlessness that applies to everyone in Kazakhstan,” Yavorskiy said.
The challenge of achieving justice in Kazakhstan inspired Yavorskiy to hold the press conference in Washington DC, but he stressed that, while the prosecutor is acting inappropriately, he still has faith in the leadership of Kazakhstan.
“Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev, our president who recently came to power, inherited a complicated country. It has a significant layer of corruption in the system. However I do believe that Tokayev strives to change the country for the better,” Yavorskiy said.
He said he was not sure that seeking further attention for the case and the situation in Kazakhstan would help, but added: “One thing is for sure. If we all stay silent nothing will change.”
