A convicted man serving time in a Kazakh prison has been found guilty of extorting money from two people held in a sauna in Petropavlovsk. The cassation court upheld the rulings of lower courts, infohub.kz reports.
According to the Telegram channel "Actual News of Cassation Courts," the man, while in prison, connected via video call to accomplices who were holding the victims in the sauna. Together with other participants in the crime, he made an unlawful demand for money under threat of violence. In doing so, he supported the common criminal intent and intensified psychological pressure on the victims.
His involvement in the crime was confirmed by a body of evidence. The victims identified him as the person who participated in the video call and demanded the money. On another accomplice's phone, correspondence was found with a contact named "Sasha," whose number was registered to the convicted man. The messages discussed the circumstances of the crime, attempts to cover up its traces, and the transfer of part of the proceeds to the inmate.
Mobile operator data confirmed that the number belonged to the convicted man, and base station information showed that on the day of the crime, the phone was in the area of the facility where he was serving his sentence. Bank transactions confirmed the movement of money, as well as loans taken out by the victims for 300,000 and 145,000 tenge.
For extortion, the court of first instance sentenced the man to 3 years in prison. The final term was 8 years, as he committed the new crime while serving a sentence under a 2011 verdict that had imposed 21 years and 9 months in prison. The cassation court, having reviewed the case materials and evidence, found the man's guilt proven and the punishment proportionate to the crime, so the judicial acts of local courts were left unchanged.