Shalabayeva case, appeal trial ordered for the 5 accused policemen

For all of them, the prescription for the kidnapping of the mother was recognized, while the issue relating to the younger daughter remains open. In the second appeal the defendants were sentenced to four years in prison

The Court of Cassation has ordered a ter appeal for the five policemen involved in the Shalabayeva case, the affair linked to the expulsion from Italy in 2013 of Alma Shalabayeva, wife of the Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, and her daughter Alua.

The position of the accused

Among the accused are the former head of the Rome mobile Renato Cortese and of the Immigration office Maurizio Improta. For all, the statute of limitations was recognized in relation to the accusation of kidnapping of the woman, while the alleged kidnapping of the minor remains at the center of the proceedings.

The requests of the pg

In the indictment, the Attorney General Alessandro Cimmino distinguished the actions of the then leaders of the Flying Squad from that of the Immigration Office. In particular, the prosecutor asked for an appeal ter for the former head of Mobile, Cortese, and for the officials Luca Armeni and Francesco Stampacchia only for the accusation of kidnapping of Alma Shalabayeva's daughter, maintaining that malice was not proven and thus not recognizing the conspiracy. Instead, for the former head of Improta Immigration and for the official of that office Vincenzo Tramma, a new appeal was requested limited to the generic extenuating circumstances, considering instead that the intent linked to the kidnapping of the minor did exist.

The procedural process

In the second appeal trial, in Florence, the five defendants were sentenced to four years in prison. At first instance, the Court of Perugia had imposed sentences of between four and five years, while in 2022 the Court of Appeal had acquitted all the defendants of the kidnapping charge. In 2023, the Supreme Court annulled those acquittals by ordering a new trial, which ended with the convictions then challenged again.

The events of 2013

The story dates back to the night between 28 and 29 May 2013, when Alma Shalabayeva and her daughter Alua were taken from their home in Casalpalocco during the search for Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov. Two days later they were expelled to Kazakhstan. They subsequently returned to Italy, where they obtained recognition of political asylum.