Resident of Nevinnomyssk claims fabricated criminal case

Batyr Laipanov, a former policeman, has achieved cancellation of his sentence in a criminal bribe case after having served a part of his term, but at retrial, the prosecution demanded a harsher sentence for him. Laipanov treats the bribe case as falsified, pointing to his conflict with agents of special services.

As stated by his sister, Laipanov was sentenced to 3.5 years in a trumped-up bribe case; he served a part of the term and was released on the CER (conditional early relief), after which his sentence was cancelled. The case was submitted for a new trial, while the article of the charges was toughened.

In 2018, Batyr Laipanov was an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), when he had a conflict with agents of special services. According to his version, they asked him to "be an informant" and report on his bosses' actions. When he refused, he received a threat in return.

A few days after the conversation with the agents, Laipanov's friend Rinat Isaev was detained for illegal trade in pyrotechnics. A criminal case was brought against him; at the same time, investigators considered that Laipanov was also involved in the crime, since Isaev was selling pyrotechnics in a shopping centre located in the controlled territory.

From his conversation with Isaev Laipanov learned that people who identified themselves as FSB agents had offered the detained pyrotechnics trader a "deal": to testify that Laipanov allegedly took money from him through intermediaries for patronage.

At the first consideration of the case, Laipanov provided an alibi: at the time when, according to the prosecution, he received a bribe, he was on the other side of the city at the police station, drawing up a protocol.