Italian police officers
allegedly gave photos from a fake passport seized from Alma
Shalabayeva to Kazakh embassy officials who subsequently used
them for the passes for the 2013 deportation of the woman and
her daughter Alua, according to a Perugia probe into the case.
Furthermore, top cop Renato Cortese, Rimini police chief
Maurizio Improta and two other officers are suspected of
deliberately failing to identify Shalabayeva as the wife of
Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov.
As a result they are under investigation for failing to
perform their duty and falsehood, as well as involvement in
abduction.
Three other police and a justice of the peace Stefania
Lavore are also under investigation.
In July 2014 Italy's supreme Cassation Court ruled that
the deportation of Shalabayeva and her daughter was "manifestly
illegitimate".
Italy rescinded the deportation order after the May 31,
2013, expulsion of Shalabayeva and Alua, who were seized in a
nighttime raid and put on a private jet with Kazakh diplomats,
was brought to light.
According to Shalabayeva, some 50 plain-clothes officers
mistreated and verbally abused her and her daughter during the
operation before turning the two over to the government of
Kazakhstan, which has been criticized for human rights abuses.
Ablyazov, who is wanted in Kazakhstan and Russia, is an
outspoken critic of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Kazakhstan claims Ablyazov, a banker, is not a dissident
but an outlaw wanted for a multi-billion-euro embezzlement case
at his BTA Bank.
Shalabayeva and her daughter returned to Italy six months
after their controversial deportation, which caused an
international scandal.
They were able to leave Kazakhstan after the authorities
in Astana lifted restrictions on their movements, following
strenuous lobbying from former Italian foreign minister Emma
Bonino.
"Today I have faith in the Italian judicial system which
is seeking those responsible and I thank Perugia prosecutors
which has been very autonomous and diligent in its
investigations," Alma Shalabayeva told ANSA Friday.
"A very serious job has been done to get at the truth
behind the abduction of myself and daughter".
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