Kazakh MFA denies information on return of Akzharkyn Turlybay, sentenced to life imprisonment in China

Official Spokesperson of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry Aibek Smadyarov commented on the information on return of Kazakh national Akzharkyn Turlybay to the motherland, Kazinform News Agency reports.

According to him, this information has not been confirmed.

“Probably you mean the information on the Tik Tok. There is various information there,” said Smadyarov at a briefing.

In May 2022, the Ministry of Justice of China informed that the Chinese side refused to extradite Akzharkyn Turlybay to Kazakhstan.

Akzharkyn Turlybay was detained at Guangzhou Airport in March 2014 for smuggling 4.5kg of drugs (amphetamine). She said she had come to China to buy branded clothes for sale. According to Turlybay, the drugs were planted on her by the people she met during her trip. The girl was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On April 7, 2016, the court of appeal ordered to change the sentence and submit Turlybay’s case to the court of the first instance.

On November 2, 2016, the court of the first instance of Guangzhou reconsidered the case against Turlybay.

In 2019, it was reported that the life imprisonment sentence against Turlybay remained unchanged.