Blogger who filmed plane crash site in Aktau from drone arrested for 10 days

Kazakh blogger Azamat Sarsenbayev, who took pictures of the crash site of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane at Aktau airport, was arrested for 10 days. He reported this on his Facebook page on December 25.

As the blogger added, his photos are being used by world media outlets – The Guardian, BBC, Le Monde.

“It is still not clear why I was detained? No specific article of violation was announced, I am denied access to a lawyer, I am forbidden to film (in order to protect myself), and the main question is how I interfered with rescue workers? You understand that this is absolute bottom?” – the blogger reported.

Sarsenbayev also published the text of the local police statement. 

“The police detained citizen S.A. for violating public order. He launched a drone at the scene of the incident, creating obstacles to the work of rescue services and investigative actions, and also did not obey the lawful demands of police officers. Now the offender has been taken to the police department, where “Measures will be taken against him in accordance with the current legislation,” – the statement of the security forces says. Sarsenbayev was later released, as he explained, “because there were no grounds for detention,” since he was filming “at the request of world news outlets.” One of the Azerbaijani TV channels issued him a representative's ID. But after that, Sarsenbayev was detained again and taken to court.

As a result, the blogger was sentenced to 10 days of administrative arrest.

“By a ruling of the Tupkaragand District Court of Mangystau Region, Sarsenbayev was found guilty of disobeying the lawful request of a law enforcement officer. The court imposed a penalty in the form of administrative arrest for 10 days,” his lawyer Aibek Suyundykov noted in Instagram Stories.

As reported by the Telegram channel Yedilov online, Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Bozumbayev was outraged that some journalists “want to make money on hype”, showing fragments of bodies, and called on the media to adhere to ethics.