The wife of a Kazakh
dissident whose 2013 deportation from Italy with her daughter
has led to several people being probed for abduction on Friday
declared her faith in the Italian justice system.
"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.
"A very serious job has been done to get at the truth
behind the abduction of myself and daughter," she said.
Top cop Renato Cortese, Rimini police chief Maurizio
Improta, another five police and justice of the peace Stefania
Lavore were placed under investigation Thursday for suspected
kidnapping in the 2013 expulsion from Italy of Shalabayeva,
wife of Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, and their
six-year-old daughter.
In July 2014 Italy's supreme Cassation Court ruled
that the deportation of the wife and daughter of the Kazakh
dissident was "manifestly illegitimate".
Italy rescinded the deportation order after the May 31,
2013, expulsion of Shalabayeva and daughter 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 foreign minister Emma Bonino.
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