On February 27 at 17:00 in the Almalinsky Court of Almaty, the main trial of the author of the satirical public Qaznews24 Temirlan Yensebek began. Initially, the trial was supposed to begin on February 14, but it was postponed to February 21, and then to February 27.

Everyone was present in the courtroom today except Yensebek himself. According to our correspondent, Temirlan was connected online from the pretrial detention center. The trial was held in a hybrid format. Immediately after the trial began, the defendant said that he could not hear anyone, including his lawyer, but the judge ignored him.

Later, prosecutor Ainash Zhuaspayeva asked to move the trial to the Nauryzbai district. In her opinion, the post for which Yensebek was charged was published from this district. The judge agreed to consider her demands. Preliminary hearings began at 17:30.

The defendant's lawyer, Zhanar Balgabaeva, filed a motion to hold the trial offline with Temirlan's participation. Yensebek himself supported her.

"I cannot fully exercise my right to defense because I need to consult, talk to a lawyer. If I am next to a lawyer, I will be able to exercise my constitutional right to defense," he said.

In addition, Zhanar Balgabaeva asked to change the measure of restraint from detention in a pretrial detention center to house arrest. She gave Yensebek a positive characterization, stating that he is a patriot of his country, has no previous convictions and lives with his family.

At 17:50 the court retired to the deliberation room, after which it granted the prosecutor's motion and transferred the trial to the Nauryzbai district. In turn, the court rejected the motion of Yensebek's defense to change the measure of restraint for him – Temirlan will remain in the pretrial detention center.

The date of the next court hearing will be announced later.

Let us recall that Temirlan Yensebek is accused under Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan – "Incitement of social, national, clan, racial, class or religious hatred." Punishment under this article provides for a fine of two to seven thousand MCI or restriction or imprisonment from two to seven years. The basis for the accusation was a satirical post about Russian TV presenter Tina Kandelaki using the comic song "Yo, orystar", containing obscene language, which Yensebek added to the post.

After Temirlan’s arrest, journalists and activists in various cities of Kazakhstan began to hold solitary pickets with the slogan “Satire is evil.”

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