Gulnara Bazhkenova Photo from social media
Co-founder of the Kazakhstani publication Orda.kz Gulnara Bazhkenova has been sentenced to eight years in prison, with a two-year deferral of the sentence because she has a young child, Ulysmedia.kz reports. She is to serve her term in a medium-security facility.
The ruling was handed down by Bostandyk District Court No. 2 in Almaty.
Bazhkenova was found guilty of embezzlement of entrusted property, illegal entrepreneurship, and the dissemination of knowingly false information. The court established that between November 2024 and December 2025, while heading the company, she stole more than 88.1 million tenge ($190,000) from its accounts.
According to court documents, the money was transferred to a controlled sole proprietor under the guise of payment for advertising, professional, and scientific services. Company funds were also used to cover tuition for Bazhkenova's son at a private international school.
A separate episode concerned real estate transactions. The court found that Bazhkenova was not registered as an individual entrepreneur but nevertheless received 121.2 million tenge ($262,000) from the purchase and resale of apartments in Almaty. According to case materials, no taxes were paid on this income.
On the charges related to Orda.kz publications, the court concluded that in 2024–2025 Bazhkenova disseminated knowingly false information online and on social media on eight occasions.
Court materials state that she acted as part of a group by prior conspiracy, and that the publications caused significant harm to citizens, organizations, and the state.
At one of the hearings, judges reviewed a report about the alleged detention of a deputy prosecutor of Almaty. Orda co-founder Maksat Ganiyev said the Prosecutor General's Office and the Anti-Corruption Agency had previously denied the claim, yet the story still appeared on the outlet's website and YouTube channel.
In addition to the prison term, the court barred Bazhkenova from working in the media, journalism, blogging, and public and civic activity for five years.
She was also banned from holding managerial and financially responsible positions in media-related organizations.
Bazhkenova was further ordered to pay 95.9 million tenge ($208,000) in material damages, 2.8 million tenge ($6,000) in state fees, and 6.8 million tenge ($14,700) to cover legal assistance and procedural costs incurred by the injured party.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
The situation around Orda.kz escalated in the autumn of 2025, when the outlet triggered a media scandal just before President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's state-of-the-nation address. Over several days, it insisted that then-former Foreign Minister and Tokayev ally Murat Nurtleu, businessman Gadzhi Gadzhiyev, and several senior officers of the National Security Committee had been detained, despite repeated official denials.
Bazhkenova later wrote on Telegram that she had «lost,» that Nurtleu was free, and that «the topic is closed.» On December 1, it emerged that a criminal case had been opened against her; she was subsequently placed under house arrest.
