Uralsk corruption of minors case against British oil worker still not in court

Peter Baruch corruption of minors case has been transferred on to the prosecutor’s office, Tengrinews reports citing Moi Gorod.

Magauiya Kurmashev of the Department of the Interior Affairs (DIA) of Western Kazakhstan Oblast said that on May 12 the British national singed the documents stating that he had familiarized himself with the criminal case files. The case was transferred on to the prosecutor later the same day.

The prosecutor will pass the case on to court after studying the case files.

It was initially expected that the case of the British national would be in court in mid April. But the investigation procedures must have taken longer then usually. Besides, another possible cause of the delay, the case files had to be translated into English for Peter Baruch to study them. He speaks good enough Russian, but he still has a right to demand that the files are translated into his native language.

In line with the criminal case procedures in place in Kazakhstan, at the initial stage, when a complaint is filed, a case is taken up by a investigating officer. He identifies all the witnesses, victims and other parties and questions them. After he is done questioning he passes on the case, along with his findings, to the investigator (that is a different official, not the same as the investigating officer). The investigator conducts a criminal investigation into the case (sometimes together with the investigating officer that worked on the case) and draws an indictment. The indictment is presented to the accused for familiarization. After he studies the case files and signs them in confirmation that he is aware of the content. After than the case files are taken to the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor studies the case and drafts his statement. Only then the case goes to court.    

Baruch was detained on February 7th, 2014 for three days. On February 10th, the Uralsk City Court granted a motion of a DIA officer warranting Peter Baruch's arrest for two month. The arrest was later extended. Peter Baruch is now in jail awaiting his trial.

Kazakhstan authorities started investigating the British oil contractor after the mother of a teenage girl from Uralsk filed a report to the police on January 14th stating that Peter Baruch had taken photos of her daughter naked. The British national was arrested after the police found hundreds of pornographic photos of dozens of underage girls from Kazakhstan in the man's computer.

Later, seven more complaints were filed against Baruch by parents of girls in Atyrau, where the British citizen had previously worked.

The police charged the former Kashagan worker with production and distribution of child pornography, engaging minors in pornographic activities and corruption of minors.

Writing by Gyuzel Kamalova, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina