Azamat Omarov, the creator of the satirical YouTube channel “Akhual Segodnya”, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years of probation in Astana after jocking and criticizing the Kazakh government. Also Omarov was also banned from publishing materials for five years.
On September 15, the blogger was released from custody in the courtroom under a plea bargain.
“Because the real term was shining, and here is a suspended sentence,” Shaikov commented on the signing of the agreement by his client. “According to the procedural agreement, guilt is admitted. Before that, I did not recognize it. People are imprisoned under this article, not one person, but many. No matter how absurd it is, it exists and it works.”
Omarov had been in custody since July 18. He was arrested after a search of his home, during which phones and computers, hard drives were seized. At the same time, the video where Omarov joked about the resetting of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s presidential terms (in July, the Constitutional Court interpreted that under the new Basic Law, Tokayev’s previous terms as head of state are not counted, so he has the right to run again) was deleted from his YouTube channel . Many other videos disappeared as well. According to his lawyer, the video published in January criticizing the leadership of Kazakhstan, which formed the basis of the criminal case, has also been deleted.
While Omarov insisted that his publications were only humor and satire, he was charged with “inciting social, national, tribal, racial, class or religious hatred.” under the article 174.
After he was detained, The Minister of Culture and Information at that time, Aida Balaeva, said that satire and humor in themselves are not offenses and responsibility for them is not provided. At the same time, she stressed that the form of submission does not exempt from liability if there are signs of incitement to hatred in the material
Kazakh and foreign organizations called on Astana to drop all charges against Omarov and stop pressuring independent journalists. Yet, there was no official reaction to this appeal.
This is not the first case of criminal prosecution of a satirical blogger. In April 2025, Temirlan Ensebek, the administrator of the satirical Instagram public Qaznews24, was sentenced to five years of restriction of liberty on charges of inciting ethnic hatred after publishing a satirical post about Russian TV presenter Tina Kandelaki. He was also banned from participating in human-rights, socio-political and journalistic activities.
