Aktau has record number arrested for garbage

Aktau has set a record by the number of people arrests amid street cleanness campaign, KTK reports. 46 people have been arrested in less than a week; another 24 citizens will have to pay fines. Almost hourly the city court is trying those throwing sunflower seeds peels, stubs and bottles off garbage cans in the streets. Teenagers and even 7 women have appeared on the defendants’ bench. Polluting residents face either a penalty of 5 thousand tenge ($30) minimum or up to 10 days of jail. “The punishment depends on the circumstances of the case and mainly the personality. When a person shows repentance for the did, we can feel that he re she admits the fault,” chairman of Aktau Administrative Court Kanziba Raskaliyeva explained. The arrested are shocked by the severity of the punishment. “I could understand it if the people throw their domestic garbage somewhere on a lawn. But what’s so wrong with sunflower seeds? Then don’t sell them at all! Or make big signs saying ‘Eat sunflower seeds here and smoke there’!” Aktau citizen Arthur said. Punished violators all promise not to throw garbage off the cans. Some of them even decided to quit smoking and drinking. On April 11 Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev suggested to step up punishments for small crimes and focus on violators of public order, including by imprisoning people for three days for throwing chewing gums in wrong places. “We cannot close our eyes on small crimes in the city. If they stick the gums in every corner, we have to catch them, record the crimes, take the fingerprints. People have to be warned! Administrative punishments, fines and imprisonment for three days should be introduced. All small criminals have to be caught on the streets and everybody has to know they will be punished. That’s when we have the order and there will be no big crimes,” the President instructed Astana police officers.