Sergei Duvanov

Cyrillic ( Kazakh )
	Сергей Дуванов
Latin :	Sergey Dwvanov
Transl. :	Sergei Duvanov
Transcr. :	Sergei Duvanov

Sergei Duwanow (* 1953 ) is a Kazakh journalist.

In 2001, the US Department of Justice investigated an alleged violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , a US federal law that criminalized payments to foreign public officials for the purpose of winning a deal. The American businessman James Giffen was accused in the case of having made substantial payments to the Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the then Prime Minister Nurlan Balgimbaev in order to secure oil concessions in Kazakhstan for Western companies. The case came to be known as " Kazakhgate ".

Sergei Duvanov wrote about the case, claiming that Nazarbayev and other Kazakh politicians had illegal bank accounts in Switzerland holding tens of millions of dollars . In October 2002 Duvanov was arrested at his dacha near Almaty . He was accused of raping a 14 year old girl. The arrest came the day before a planned trip to the United States , where Duvanov should have spoken about the human rights situation in Kazakhstan. In January 2003, he was found guilty and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. From January 15, 2004, Duvanov was in open prison , he could go to work and live at home. However, he was not allowed to go to public places - a sanction contrary to Kazakh law. Duvanov protested his innocence. The Kazakh opposition assumes that the charges against Duvanov were constructed by the government for political reasons.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CBS News : What's The Truth About Kazakhstan?
2. ↑ ^{a b} EurasiaNet : Supporters of detained Kazakhstani journalist denounce incident as government set-up
3. ↑ IFEX : Journalist and human rights activist Sergei Duvanov released on probation