Guilty Until Proven Innocent

            Coverage in the Kazakh press of the arrest in Russia and deportation to Kazakhstan of Mark Seidenfeld has for the most part presented him as already having been found guilty, and as having been delivered by Russia to Kazakhstan for sentencing.

 

            In fact, Mark Seidenfeld has not yet been tried in a court on any charges, and his trial date has been repeatedly postponed. The original charge for which Mark Seidenfeld was arrested in Russia and deported to Kazakhstan has been dropped. That charge, that Mark Seidenfeld stole $40,000 has been shown to be completely false and based upon falsified documents. The cash was applied to purchases of equipment which has been accounted for. Mark also has never been a spy, and prior to going into telecommunications had been devoutly religious.

 

            Today, it is not at all clear why Mark Seidenfeld continues to be held in a Kazakh jail and what charges he remains accused of. It is also not clear why Mark Seidenfeld has not been released on bail, except he was told that, in order for him to be released on bail, he would have to make a cash payment of $35,000 (not a bail bond) which he has refused to pay.

 

Guilty, Awaiting Sentencing

 

            The November 17, 2006 issue of Novoye Pokolenie described that the law enforcement authorities of Kazakhstan and Russia had arranged that Mark Seidenfeld would be transferred to the Kazakhstan authorities for sentencing in accordance with Kazakh law. See http://www.np.kz/2006/46/rmain.html

 

A Spy

 

            The article in Novoye Pokolenie added that not only did the Financial Police have a complaint against Mark Seidenfeld, but also Kazakh national security organs have complaints against Mark Seidenfeld. Reference was made to continuous spying scandals involving information technology, suggesting to the reader that Mark Seidenfeld may also be a spy as well as a thief.

 

An Enemy

 

            On November 14, 2006, Gazeta carried an article to the effect that: “One of the main ‘enemies’ of Kazakhtelecom, the American citizen Mark Seidenfeld, the first leader of the company “Arna”, “Rakhat Telecom”, and “Kazintel”, and the creator of the trade mark DUCAT, is accused by the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the accomplishment of an economic crime on the territory of Kazakhstan.” See http://www.newspaper.kz/article.aspx?aid=3593

 

Given up as Guilty by the US Embassy in Kazakhstan

 

            A new twist in the campaign of slander and false accusations against Mark Seidenfeld has begun to appear more recently, so far only in comments on blog sites by someone who appears to be close to Mr. Zhunussov and prefers to remain anonymous. He calls himself My Secret and writes from the following address:  mysecret@operamail.com.

 

            My Secret has written to the organizers of two websites a lengthy attack on Mark Seidenfeld and on the writer of the New York Times article about Mark Seidenfeld’s detention. He wrote: “There have been thousands and thousands of foreign businessmen in Kazakhstan since 1991 who come and go freely in Kazakhstan, and they just don’t end up in jail unless they did something. In fact, you cannot find one other American businessman case in Kazakhstan but this one, because Kazakhstan plainly does not personally mistreat foreigners (although some Kazakhs might try to find ways to cheat them out of money, which is not the case with Mark Seidenfeld). The US Embassy is the most active and influential embassy in Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan has lots of bilateral ties with the US, and the US Embassy has been closely monitoring this case and has NOT reported any incorrect procedures that have been done. Kazakhstan has been completely legalistic in their actions to avoid being blamed of any improper activities. There is no corrupt reason why the government of Kazakhstan (General Prosecutor Office) would undergo the huge spotlight it has in this case because of Mark Seidenfeld — he is not particularly rich and he is not an opposition leader (the usual reasons for frame-ups)… The charges are credible enough that the Prosecutor General Office of Kazakhstan pursued a complicated and difficult extradition treaty process with Russia, and the Russian Prosecutor General and several judges there have all reviewed and approved that these are credible charges with credible evidence. This case is one of the times that Kazakhstan is trying to do it right instead of being corrupt. Don’t be surprised that Mark Seidenfeld is trying to avoid a trial and conviction by appealing to fellow Americans that he is being railroaded by corrupt Kazakhstanis.”

 

            An extract of this attack on Mark Seidenfeld was published at http://centralasia.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2007/04/25/trial-delay-for-mark-seidenfeld-telecom-executive/

 

            The record should reflect that, at no time has Mark Seidenfeld sought to avoid a trial on the false charges made against him. Instead, Mark Seidenfeld wants his day in court as he is confident that he can prove his innocence of the false charges made against him.