Kashkumbaev's defense speech begins 7:20 minutes into the video and after only 8 minutes he is interrupted by the referee, who is clearly not interested in hearing more.
Kashkumbayev's lawyer protests, but the judge ignores this. Kashkumbayev then leaves the room, as he is not allowed to read his defense in which he mentions the rights that have been denied him.
Then the state prosecutor takes the floor and reads out the charges for a while. Then Kashkumbayev's lawyer takes the floor.
The lawyer repeats his protests, after which he argues for a long time that the trial is not being run according to the law, and he does this very convincingly, but is not listened to at all by the judge and the court.
He then announces that he will not continue as it is all irregular and not according to the law, and finally leaves the room after noticing that two state TV channels present have previously broadcast misinformation and relayed the prosecutor's words as truthful without there being any evidence for the accusations.
After the lawyer has left the room, barely an hour after the trial started, the judge concludes by saying that they will consider how the trial will now continue and says that there will be a break for a few days to talk to both parties.
In the final minutes of the video, Kashkumbaev's lawyer addresses the two state TV channels, saying that they have deliberately distorted the truth from the beginning and have been biased and not objective from the start. He then appeals to them to remain neutral in the future, and ends by saying that if they continue to smear Protestant Christians in this way, they are partly responsible for people having a very negative view of Christians.
As for the lawyer, he is very brave and acts without fear, while at the same time being incredibly knowledgeable about legal issues.
Accused of making woman mentally ill
Pastor Kashkumbayev is falsely accused of making a woman mentally ill, among other things. He was arrested on May 17, 2013 and had to wait until January 22, 2014 for his trial to begin. In the meantime, he was forcibly hospitalized and forcibly medicated in a psychiatric hospital, even though he is a mentally healthy and law-abiding citizen.
Persecution due to conversion
Please pray for this trial, which has great significance for the future of Christians in Kazakhstan. It harks back to the days of the Soviet Union, when psychiatry was abused against Christians who were forcibly hospitalized even though they were mentally healthy.
The whole process looks like a deliberate attempt to stigmatize Christians in Kazakhstan, especially ethnic Kazakhs converting from Islam to the Christian faith.
