A former deputy head of the Almaty Police Department who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in a drug case has rejected the court's ruling and filed an appeal, the website infohub.kz reports.
The appeal was announced during a court hearing, footage of which was broadcast by the KTK television channel. According to KTK, before his prosecution the man served as deputy head of the Almaty Police Department. He was dismissed from the force two years ago after failing an attestation and was later detained on suspicion of aiding the drug trade.
In August this year, a court sentenced him to 18 years in a penal colony. Eleven other members of an organized criminal group were jailed alongside him. The former police officer deemed the sentence unjust and filed an appeal.
"These are very serious charges, and I state with complete certainty — not only as a sister but also as a defense advocate — that my brother is innocent. We raised the issue of a discrepancy in the verdict that was handed to us, the defense, because the page numbers do not match," the channel quoted the convicted man's sister, Gulnar Dzhetegenova, as saying.
The defense insists that some of those convicted in the case did not even know each other. Lawyers intend to seek a review of the case.