Tokbergen Abiyev
Tokbergen Abiyev | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kazakhstan |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, newspaper editor |
| Known for | Editor of Zakon i Pravosudiye; investigative reporting on government corruption; staged disappearance in 2012 |
Tokbergen Abiyev (, Toqbergen Ábıev) is a Kazakhstani journalist and serves as the editor of Zakon i Pravosudiye, a newspaper based in Astana that specializes in uncovering government corruption. He disappeared on 20 December 2012, shortly after announcing a significant investigative report to the Kazakh press, and resurfaced on 4 January 2013.
Incarceration
From July 2008 until May 2011, Abiyev was detained following his conviction for bribing an official at Kazakhstan’s Agency for Fighting Economic and Corruption Crimes to access information about judicial law enforcement officers. He asserted that his detention was politically driven due to his editorial position at Zakon i Pravosudie.
Disappearance
On 20 December 2012, Abiyev sent an email to his colleagues about a forthcoming press conference entitled "A corrupt person must go to prison," aimed at revealing corruption in Astana. Later that day, he informed a co-worker that he was leaving to collect materials for the event but failed to return.
Reporters Without Borders voiced serious concern, associating his disappearance with the planned corruption exposé. The incident was compared to the case of journalist Oralgaisha Omarshanova, who has been missing since 2007 while investigating links between the killing of a former Kazakhmys executive and alleged criminal networks.
Reappearance
Abiyev reemerged on 4 January 2013, admitting that he had orchestrated his own disappearance to attract attention from both the public and authorities toward his anti-corruption campaign.