An Almaty court has sentenced two senior figures at Kazakhstan’s KazTAG news agency, imposing restrictions on their freedom and barring both from journalism for three years.
Aset Matayev, KazTAG’s chief executive, was sentenced on July 31 to three and a half years of restricted freedom after being found guilty of negligence in the performance of his duties and hooliganism. The court reduced the sentence to one year and three months under an amnesty connected to the adoption of Kazakhstan’s new Constitution.
KazTAG editor-in-chief Amir Kasenov was sentenced to one year and three months of restricted freedom after the court found him guilty of disseminating knowingly false information in articles about the brokerage company Freedom Finance. Kasenov, who had been held in pretrial detention since mid-June, was released from custody and placed under a travel ban.
The case became public in late 2025, when KazTAG managers Kasenov and Matayev were reported to be under investigation following a complaint by Freedom Finance, the brokerage firm owned by Russian-born billionaire Timur Turlov. The company alleged that KazTAG had published false information, emotional accusations and distorted facts, and said the articles contained serious errors and inaccuracies.
Matayev and Kasenov denied the allegations. KazTAG’s editors said the disputed articles did not contain false information and were based on statements from readers who had contacted the newsroom.
Matayev was later cleared of the charge of disseminating knowingly false information, but the negligence charge remained. In March, after a brawl in Almaty, prosecutors also charged him with hooliganism. His lawyers described that allegation as a provocation. The hooliganism charge was later merged with the main KazTAG case, and Matayev was moved from custody to house arrest after an appeal.
During closing arguments, prosecutors asked the court to impose restrictions on the defendants’ freedom. Neither Matayev nor Kasenov admitted guilt.