In Shymkent, a city with a population of one million, a criminal investigation has been initiated against police officers following the murder of Nuray Serikbay, a 21-year-old local resident, as reported by Tengrinews.kz based on information from Sanjar Adilov, the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.
According to Adilov, law enforcement officers are suspected of negligence.
“The initiation of a criminal case for negligence is related to holding accountable officials who failed to take action to register a criminal case after the victim's appeal regarding coercion into marriage. We see that this is exactly what happened. (...) Those employees who did not accept the statement and closed the case based on the victim's appeal have been dismissed for negative reasons,” he noted.
Adilov added that primarily the employees of the district police department will be held accountable. A legal assessment of the actions of the leadership of the city police department will also be conducted. Recently, it became known about the dismissal of the chief of police of Shymkent, Nurlan Almasbekov, and his first deputy, Kurmanbek Sakhov.
The murder of Nuray Serikbay occurred on January 11 on one of the streets of Shymkent, where investigators found multiple stab wounds on her body. The suspect was detained two days later, 10 kilometers from the city. He turned out to be 28-year-old Sherkhan Aymakhan, who, according to the girl's relatives, had been stalking her for a long time.
According to media reports, the man proposed to Nuray, to which she responded with a refusal, after which he kidnapped her. The girl's relatives returned her home, but despite their appeal to the police, a criminal case based on their statement was never initiated.
The murder of the student sparked widespread public outcry in Kazakhstan. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also commented on the matter. At a meeting of the National Kurultai on January 20, he instructed the Ministry of Internal Affairs to conduct a legal assessment of the actions of the Shymkent police, and the Attorney General to thoroughly investigate the incident.
