"I seriously braced myself to write appeals to the NSC investigators, experts, judges who painfully and blatantly contrived a criminal case against me. And that is how the appeals will be entitled: "Admit your guilt, people...". I just want some of those who still have a modicum of humanity, to do so now, and not later, when people like them begin to give their 'late orations', as Lermontov wrote, when 'gibberish of explanations' become pathetic and nasty to the extent of abomination"- the politician Vladimir Kozlov, sentenced to 7.5 years' imprisonment by the Kazakh regime, wrote to his wife Aliya, on the eve of the second anniversary of the Zhanaozen events.

Author: Vladimir KOZLOV

"I understand that some people are hoping, when the time comes, to 'buy indulgences' (the sale of absolution of past sins was a very profitable practice exercised by Popes a long time ago), but it is unlikely that many will obtain it, due to a sharp rise in prices resulting from high demand", - Vladimir Ivanovich stated ironically before proceeding to the main body of the appeal.

"ADMIT YOUR GUILT, PEOPLE..."

Officers of the NSC of the RK: A.E. Kydyraliyev, S.K. Amanov, N.T. Mazhilov, D.M. Zhorabayev, A.K. Baltabayev, M.N. Badisoltanov, N.S. Baldairov, T.E. Tolykbayev, N.Kh. Shayken, M.S. Tulepbergenov, S.B. Kobenbayev, A.K. Ospanov, B.Zh. Moldabekov, D.Zh. Zhumabay, M.Kh. Tapalov, O.Zh. Zhasuzakov, E.A. Kaliyev and others (the investigation team of the NSC of the RK in the case).

Experts: A.B. Akashev, R.A. Akbarova, A.E. Svankulov, D.D. Mambekova, N.A. Abisheva and others.

Prosecutors: A.I. Kudaibergenov, T.Zh. Aday, Zh.K. Askarov, E.O. Oteuov, Zh. Kadyruly, R.B. Ibraimova, A. Zhanayev, G. Mukanov, E. Turmaganbetov, D.M. Muratkhanov, M. Toizhan (court prosecutors, involved in the hearings in the court of first instance, the appellate hearings, the cassation hearing and the hearing in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan).

Judges: B.K. Myrzabekov, R.E. Kabiyev, D.S. Amirov, A.A. Moldabayeva, Kh. Sh. Kazhenova, M.S. Shegenov, A.T. Zhukenov, K.A. Shaukharov (judges of the court of the city of Aktau, the Mangistau regional courts and the Supreme Court of the RK).

On 23 January, 2014, it will have been two years since I was imprisoned, which I owe to you all collectively, as well as each and every one of you individually. Each one of you, some earlier, others later, some to a lesser extent, others - to a greater extent, acted against your conscience, betrayed your official duty and profession, went beyond universal standards of ethics, morality and honour, deliberately facilitating injustice.
I understand that you were carrying out the order of the political will, you had been made an offer which you did not want to refuse.... I understand, but do not condone this. Both you and I were faced with a choice, and each of us made one.

My choice saved my honour, dignity and opportunity for my family to live with their heads held high; it also brought them severe hardship, persecution and suffering.

Your choice allowed you to climb up the career ladder and brought you material benefits in exchange for the discarding and trampling of the very values which I succeeded in maintaining.

Everyonegot what they deemed precious.

Adapting your 'conclusions' to the result, which was expected by certain people, and therefore was set as a task before each one of you, you, dear investigators, wrote the testimonies for the witnesses (in court, I presented whole pages of the testimonies of different witnesses, written identically, as if with the use of a carbon paper, copied word by word, with exactly the same grammar errors and other mistakes). You ignored the obvious, whenever the obvious refuted what had been contrived by you; you doctored facts, you prevented me from seeing my wife, and, in fact, you didn't investigate anything; because, having common sense, you realised that there was nothing to be investigated; from the very beginning, my guilt was like Confucius's black cat which is hard to find in a dark room, simply because it is not there.

You did not investigate, you just kept inventing lies in order to accomplish what you'd been ordered to do, whilst fully aware that you were facilitating injustice and committing a crime. You, officers of the NSC of the RK, who have undergone higher education in legal studies, did not answer with your investigation the question which has been the cornerstone of any investigation since the time of the Roman law: "Who benefited from the developments in Zhanaozen?" Still, the answer is obvious, taking into consideration the subsequent personnel reshuffle in the region.

You did not set about trying to find out how it came to pass that from January 2011 (!), your colleagues from the 'secret' departments eavesdropped on the entire town of Zhanaozen, shadowed all oil workers - activists of the imminent strike (everything is detailed in the criminal case file), and placed whistle-blowers in their circles - and still, they allowed the events of 16 December, 2011 to occur.

You did not only fail to set a goal before you; you also ignored my official appeals regarding this matter, written in the NSC detention facility in Almaty. Why? Time will give an answer to this question, but it is clear that those who serve time in connection with the events of 16 December, 2011 are not those who should be punished for this tragedy.

You, gentlemen experts from the prosecution, did not demonstrate the dignity of true professionals or citizens for that matter. Suffice it to compare what you wrote with how helpless you looked in court, striving to give grounds to and defend this nonsense. Remember how you ignored whole paragraphs of texts whenever they refuted your insinuations? Remember how you all, with no exclusion, were hiding behind prosecutors and the provisions of the Criminal Executive Code from questions posed by the defendants? Remember your 'undersong'which you kept repeating in court: "I am not at liberty to give an answer to this question…"?.

You, gentlemen prosecutors, who had been appointed to monitor compliance with the law, betrayed your mission. Unfortunately, it was not for the first time in history that people in uniforms refused to serve the Law, obsequiously serving the rulers.

Blasphemous was the sudden insight into the history of the 1930s, made by Prosecutor A. Zhanaeva in the Aktau court. Mentioning in her speech, full of expressions of political accusations deriving from the very era of 'the thirties of the twentieth century', of the name of a person who within those years became a victim of similar prosecutors - the infamous Wyszynski, was not just 'a blunder, unworthy of lawyers'. It was immoral. Not one prosecutor of the Soviet Union and the independent Republic of Kazakhstan has ever subsequently admitted their guilt for what representatives of their 'cohort' had done to A. Baitursynov and thousands of others.

Suffice it to say that, as regards the events in Zheltoksan in 1986, whose heroes we remember and honour, only one of the prosecutors admitted his guilt: Zharmakhan Tuyakbay, and he did it prior to running for president.

When I spoke in court about the innocent victims of Zhanaozen, on the side where the prosecutors were sitting, one could hear laughter... What is there to add?... There was no law, no supervision, only you, 'blue uniforms', confident of your impunity.

Gentlemen Judges, I pity you. Your role in this system, in such political trials, is reduced to a humiliating, insulting procedure of enactment. All you did was put your signature and stamp of the court office on the ruling, which was nothing more but an excerpt from the indictment, written by investigators and approved by prosecutors.

In the Aktau court, the defence annihilated all arguments, one by one, and the so-called 'evidence' presented by the prosecution. It also pointed to numerous procedural violations, committed by the prosecution. However, Judge B. Myrzabekov, imitating all three characters of the widely known sculptural group, 'couldn't see', 'couldn't hear' and, accordingly, 'couldn't speak' at all.

Being remembered, like the Cheshire cat from the 'Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There', only by his grin, he just let lawlessness and injustice unfold. Nothing more than that.

What concerns other judges, I have not seen, heard and do not know them. They continued and completed the act of political obscurantism in my absence, they finally made legal what had absolutely nothing to do with law and legality.

The truthfulness of the above is easy to see. All of this is detailed in the case file. Also, thanks to my friends and colleagues who were present in court and were recording the entire course of developments in text form and posting everything on the internet, numerous materials can be found online now. Advantages of the XXI century are apparent.

Not so long ago, here in the penal colony, I read a book describing chronologically Kenesary Kasymov's uprising. After I read this book, a few inmates read it too, and once, I found one of them, a young man, in a state of deep sadness. It turns out that he had read in the book that one of his ancestors, in those ancient times, had been involved in the betrayal and assassination of Khan Kene...

The recounting of history of a nation is eternal. One who erred is able to regain his dignity by admitting his error. Are you really willing to let your cowardice result in the ill-treatment of those who bear and will bear the name of your ancestors? Or will you rather find the courage which will enable your descendants to walk with their heads held high?

Admit your guilt, people... Admit it now, and not at a time when it shall sound false and cheap. Now is the time when people will still believe you. Now is the time when you can be forgiven.

Vladimir KOZLOV, 2 December, 2013, penal colony ЕС164/3