Crossroads Asia | Politics | Central Asia

Moment of Truth: The Case Against Orda.kz Editor Begins

The case against former Orda editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova, who was placed under house arrest in December 2025, is set to begin following months of legal proceedings.

On July 2, the legal case against former Orda editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova will begin in Almaty, Kazakh media outlet Vlast reported. She will stand trial on charges under three separate articles of Kazakhstan’s Criminal Code. While it has long been known that charges related to the dissemination of knowingly false information would be heard, the two other allegations, illegal entrepreneurship and the embezzlement of another’s property, were only recently made public.

The trial begins seven months after Bazhkenova was arrested in Almaty and subsequently placed under house arrest, while multiple pieces of work-related equipment were seized from her apartment. Meanwhile, the offices of Orda.kz in both Astana and Almaty were raided by police and several of Bazhkenova’s colleagues taken in for questioning.

The arrest has drawn criticism from several international organizations, with Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists voicing concern over Bazhkenova’s arrest. In the months since, other concurrent legal battles have unfolded, placing her lawyer at the time, Murat Adam, more in the spotlight than Bazhkenova herself.

The case, which was originally meant to begin on June 26 but was rescheduled, has taken several turns over the past months, prompting observers to question the fairness of the trial. At the time of her arrest, it appeared that all the charges against Bazhkenova concerned the dissemination of knowingly false information related to Orda publications from 2024, as reported by RFE/RL. Since then, however, the scope of the case has grown.

In the months leading up to her arrest, pressure was mounting on Bazhkenova as journalists at Orda experienced harassment by unknown actors. According to the outlet, this was a possible prelude to a hostile takeover of the organization by the little-known co-founder of Orda, Maksat Ganiyev, as previously covered by The Diplomat.

Around this time, Bazhkenova contacted lawyer Murat Adam, who also ended up defending her during the first months following her arrest. Throughout........

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