Why Was a Kazakh Lawyer Stripped of His License? 

Дата публикации: 23-02-2026 13:13:00

Murat Adam tried to defend the rights of his client, an editor under fire, and found himself in the state’s crosshairs. 

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Murat Adam knows a Kafkaesque trial when he sees one. The 43-year-old defense lawyer, and a former judge, has witnessed several politically motivated cases in the courts of his native Almaty, Kazakhstan’s former capital. But he never imagined he would become the target of one himself.

In mid-January, without presenting any evidence of wrongdoing, a local court stripped him of his lawyer license. The reason was a complaint related to Adam’s comments on the mishandling of the case of his client, Gulnara Bashkenova, the editor-in-chief of Orda, a Kazakh media outlet.  

Adam, and the 110 Kazakh lawyers who came to his defense, have no doubt that the case was political. He is planning to appeal. 

Despite having a seemingly diverse media space, with several critical outlets and outspoken civil society, critics argue that in Kazakhstan the system merely mimics freedom, while politics continues to exert heavy influence on the media sphere – and the courts. 

In the 2025 World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index, Kazakhstan ranked 66th out of 143 countries, but the report noted that significant challenges remain in the areas of judiciary independence, corruption, and government accountability. Freedom House has dubbed the country a consolidated authoritarian regime, while its internet freedom scored 37 out of 100 points, making it “not free.” 

This was not news to Adam when he decided to pursue a career as a defense lawyer in 2019 after seven years as a judge. 

“I’ve always wanted to be on the side of justice, rule of law, and human rights, and I couldn’t find myself in the court system,” Adam told The Diplomat over the phone. “There were always attempts to influence the judicial process, so I decided to leave.” 

Over the course of his career, Adam took on several high profile human rights cases, including that of Chechen activist Mansur Movlaev and the family of Aigul Sailybayeva, a former Kazakh judge murdered in Germany. 

In June 2025, he was approached by Gulnara Bazhkenova, the editor-in-chief of Orda, a prominent online media outlet in Kazakhstan known for its critical reporting on government, corruption, and social issues. As Bazhkenova repeatedly stated, she was not an opposition journalist – but an independent one. 

Or so she thought. In Kazakhstan’s restricted media landscape, freedom is scarce and editorial independence from the political needs of the moment, more often than not, is illusory. 

She asked Adam to be her legal representative at a time when she needed one most. In July, in a long video published on Orda’s YouTube channel, Bazhkenova accused Maksat Ganiyev, Orda’s co-owner, of corporate raiding, and taking away 70 percent of the outlet’s ownership. 

In her video, Bazhkenova said Ganiyev intended to transfer Orda to the Sana Center – a media holding connected to the presidential administration, more favorable to the authorities. In the following months, the journalist claimed that Ganiyev worked in cooperation with Kaspi Bank, one of the most powerful businesses in Kazakhstan. 

As she refused to comply with Ganiyev’s demands, Bazkhenova claimed in the video, she and Orda’s journalists started being harassed and threatened. 

Their phone numbers and photos were published on porn sites and graphics that falsely claimed they’d died were shared on the internet. Bazhkenova’s young son was receiving dozens of phone calls too, she claimed. 

Such methods are not uncommon in Kazakhstan’s tightly controlled media space. Journalists critical of the authorities regularly face lawsuits, have their social media accounts hacked, or are otherwise harassed by the security services. In the case of Azattyk, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, more than a dozen of the outlet’s journalists were refused accreditation last year.

“She turned to me for legal assistance to initiate a criminal case for corporate raiding. Specifically, this 70 percent stake that ended up in the hands of Maksat Ganiyev,” Adam said. He added that this is not the only case in which he represented her. 

“In one case, she is the one suing Maksat Ganiyev. And in the second case, Maksat Ganiyev is suing her, demanding a penalty from her for an allegedly late repayment of a debt.”

But that was only the beginning of Bazhkenova’s problems. In September 2025, Orda ran a report claiming that Kazakhstan’s then-foreign minister, Murat Nurtleu, had been detained by the authorities along with several high-ranking security officials and a businessman as part of a larger scandal. 

Kazakh authorities swiftly denied the news and Bazhkenova was accused of violating journalistic ethics. She never revealed the source of the news, but claimed that it was a trusted one. 

In November, Orda published a report in which both Bazkhenova and Ganiyev presented their points of view in the ownership standoff. 

According to Ganiyev, Bazhkenova failed to settle her financial obligations under their agreement and he only wanted to be compensated for his losses – either financially or by taking over the outlet. He also denied any links to Kaspi Bank.

The case of the hostile corporate takeover of Orda’s stakes was soon to be dismissed by the Almaty police, as neither Bazhkenova nor her legal representative was able to attend the trial. In the early morning on December 1, Orda’s offices in both Astana and Almaty and Bazhkenova’s home were raided by armed police. Security forces carried out searches of the properties. 

Adam, carrying a power of attorney to represent Bazhkenova, was denied access to his client in the early stages of the investigation, including the initial hearing. 

“A journalist from E. Media filmed me being denied entry during the searches. He recorded everything on video, including the moment when I’m not let into my client’s apartment,” Adam recalled. “Security officers in civilian clothes ignored my requests to identify themselves as police officers, which is against the law.”

Soon after, the authorities launched criminal proceedings against Bazhkenova, accusing her of intentionally spreading false information. By the evening of December 1, a court ordered her to be placed under house arrest for two months.

Adam shared his frustration about law enforcement’s disregard for the rule of law in several posts on social media. A few weeks later, the Ministry of Justice filed a civil claim seeking to revoke his license, citing “gross or repeated violations of legislation and professional ethics.” 

According to the complaint, Adam’s social media posts were “inaccurate” and aimed at discrediting the pre-trial investigation and the courts. But thanks to the video recordings made by the journalist present at the site, Adam had proof that he was telling the truth.

Over a hundred local lawyers and international colleagues – including Mary Lawlor, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and the International Commission of Jurists – supported Adam and dismissed the case as politically motivated, calling on the authorities to drop the accusations. His license was still revoked. 

“On the day of the verdict announcement, January 16, 4 p.m., the representatives of the Ministry of Justice didn’t show up. And the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs didn’t show up. I realized that they knew what the court’s verdict would be,” Adam said. “It all happened precisely as a result of my active defense of Gulnara Bazhkenova.”

Adam’s case is a clear example of how administrative resources are being mobilized to punish those who challenge the authorities. 

“In a democratic state, rights and freedoms should determine the content of laws and law enforcement,” Yevgeny Zhovtis, director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, told The Diplomat. 

“But here, authoritarianism determines the content of laws and law enforcement. And then you find yourself in a situation where administrative resources are used to somehow keep everything under control.”

When it comes to Bazhkenova’s case, her fall from grace may be down to several factors. 

“Journalists joke that under Nazarbayev, at least the rules of the game were clear. That is, there were clearly defined taboo topics: Nazarbayev, his family,” said Diana Okremova, a local media rights advocate. “Under Tokayev it’s completely unclear. The authorities can easily deem something slander, or dissemination of knowingly false information.” 

But Bazkhenova’s fall might be emblematic of something more than just a poor freedom of speech environment in Kazakhstan. Some analysts have suggested that she played a certain role in Kazakhstan’s restricted media landscape. Apart from her conflict with Ganiyev, which spilled into the open because of her video, there isn’t much publicly known about Orda’s origins and backers.

“The media market is a politically laden sphere. You can’t just create a personal project; you must be allowed to do so by key figures in the presidential administration. We still don’t know how Orda was funded,” said Dimash Alzhanov, a Kazakh political analyst.

“If your media project is financed by certain groups at the order of people connected to the political leadership, and with the aim of creating a certain information environment, then, of course, at some point you may lose the rights to it.”

According to Alzhanov, following President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s coming to power, the authorities realized that they could no longer influence the public through traditionally aggressive propaganda. A new strategy was needed.

“It took several years for the authorities to change their information approach and create media projects that would be allowed to criticize. And Orda, in the context of this new information agenda, met the authorities’ needs. We already knew this was the rule of the game,” Alzhanov said.

Okremova said that with the return to power of Donald Trump in the United States, freedom of speech in Central Asia is facing an even darker future. 

“If Trump disregards freedom of speech and human rights, why can’t we do the same?” she said, characterizing the thought patterns of regional governments. Central Asian leaders have long complained about the imposition of foreign values, the dangers of NGOs receiving funding from abroad, and mass media spreading disinformation – all complaints now uttered by the U.S. president, too. 

Adam will appeal the decision to revoke his license. Bazhkenova might not get convicted. When asked if it’s possible to win in court against the regime, Zhovtis has an answer. 

“It’s not impossible, but it’s not so much related to the legal aspect of the issue,” he said. “If there’s a clear, firm political decision to revoke your license, then it will be revoked, regardless of your defense. If there’s no decision at the top, if there are any doubts, significant public attention, or a reaction at the international level, then the authorities may reconsider.”

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