Hostage taking at Almaty airport: defendant tells his story

Tengrinews.kz - The man who took a hostage at the Almaty airport told the court about the motives for the attack. According to him, he ended up at the airport by accident.

According to the defendant Mashrapbek Baratov, he left that day in search of work, since the nightclub where he worked as a security guard had been delaying his salary for the third month.

"I left home early in the morning, thinking to buy something for March 8, at least a cake. I went to Seifullina Street, where some men were standing and working part-time at the counter. I walked around Seifullina, and saw that there was no one there. Then I got on the first bus 106, thinking that I would take it home, and get off at Elevator. I was sitting on my phone, poking around, looking at ads on OLX that needed workers. I had two days off after my shift. Well, I drove by, I don't know how I ended up at the airport," the defendant said.

He added that he has a wife and two children. The man allegedly had financial problems and could not share them.

"I had my own family problems, I was freaking out inside, but I couldn't open up to my wife, son or daughter. I had been having financial difficulties for three months already. So I went to the airport, walked around the airport, then heard that I was being announced either to Astana or somewhere. I don't know what came over me, I thought I'd get through. But I only had 7 thousand tenge in my pocket," Baratov recalls.

According to him, he reached the security checkpoint without any problems, where the victim stopped him and didn't let him go any further. This made him angry.

"She stops me, says she needs documents. I explained to her that I'll be back in 2-3 minutes. As soon as I leave, she grabs me by the collar and yanks me. And then I spontaneously grabbed her by the hair, well, and here everything happened spontaneously. Noise-hubbub, I saw the police, I thought they were going to shoot. I had a kitchen knife with me, which has been in my backpack for a year and a half, I used it to open canned goods, sausages, when I was at work. It's not as sharp as I bought it in the store, like that," the defendant said.

According to him, the situation was heating up, people began to gather around. According to him, he offered the police to exchange the girl for them, but none of them agreed.

"I didn't threaten her, I didn't put a knife to her neck or head. I told her not to scream, I said: ‘Now I'll let you go.’ She screamed even more. Then I see - there's already a crowd and police officers standing. I tell one police officer: ‘Put down your service weapon and come to me, I'll let the girl go.’ He stands and doesn't come. Then the second one, there's a sergeant too, I tell her: ‘Then either you come with a gun.’ He didn't come either. Everyone was afraid, but here there are already people. And I spontaneously, I don't know how, said: ‘I’ll blow up the airport,'" the defendant pensioner admits.

After that, volunteer Musa Abdraimov appeared in the crowd. He agreed to come out.

"I grabbed this guy by the hand. I didn't put a knife to his throat, I just grabbed his hands. I said: ‘Call me a senior officer.’ I didn't make any demands. When I got distracted - this guy snatched the knife from me. Then everyone attacked me and put me on the floor," the defendant concluded.

On April 7, the trial began in the case of a man who took an airport employee hostage in early March. During the hearing, the prosecutor of the transport military prosecutor's office asked to hold the court hearings in an abbreviated manner, since the defendant did not challenge the evidence collected in the case.

On March 7, Kazakhstanis were shocked by the news - a man armed with a kitchen knife took a female employee of the Almaty airport hostage.

According to airport officials, at approximately 11:45 AM, the suspect entered the domestic terminal (T1) disguised as a passenger. When aviation security personnel asked him to present his documents, he grabbed a female security officer by the hair and threatened her with a knife.

After 7 minutes, he was neutralized and detained. This was possible thanks to a brave man. It turned out to be Musa Abdraim - he offered himself instead of the hostage. Seizing the moment, Abdraim snatched the knife from the attacker. After that, the police managed to detain him.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was informed about the situation with the hostage taking at the Almaty airport. On the same day, by decree of the Head of State, hero was awarded a medal for courage and dedication shown in an extreme situation.