The case of a fatal drunk driving accident on Al-Farabi Avenue in Almaty that killed three people is nearing a verdict. Lawyer Meirman Shekeyev has warned in advance that even the maximum punishment will not satisfy society. He is confident that such cases should be classified more strictly. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Under the article charged against 32-year-old businessman Alexander Pak, the maximum punishment is set at 7 to 10 years of imprisonment. But even this may not be enough for Kazakhstani citizens.
"Three people died. Brother Kumar (one of the deceased - ed.) said in an interview that for three people they give only 3 years each. As if for each death. Yes, if you think about it, it's unfair, but that's the law. The court cannot go beyond its framework," says Shekeyev.
In addition, the article falls under the category of medium-gravity offenses, not serious ones. This means the convicted person will be sent to a settlement colony. In his opinion, this regime is disproportionate to the severity of the incident.
The lawyer's main complaint concerns the legal structure itself. A drunk driver gets behind the wheel and seemingly already commits a crime. But when he kills people, his actions are classified as "negligence."
"How can this be negligence? A person who drank and got behind the wheel is a criminal; he knows it. At the first stage, he is a criminal, and when they move to the second, it suddenly becomes 'negligence.' This is beyond comprehension!" Shekeyev stated.
The lawyer does not insist on reclassification as intentional murder, acknowledging that this would require changing several laws. But he believes the norm of "negligence" in such cases should be removed, and the punishment drastically tightened.
Shekeyev notes that Kazakh law does not have a norm requiring a sentence to be fair—only "legal and justified." In Russia, such a norm exists.
"The day we introduce such a norm, we must make our laws fair. Only then can we demand that everything be fair," the lawyer emphasized.
Colleagues from ElMedia asked deputies what they think about tightening legislation after such a high-profile case.
"A person who deliberately drinks and, knowing he is intoxicated, gets behind the wheel and causes a fatal accident. Such cases should be considered as intentional murder—with maximum sentences and particular severity," said deputy Olzhas Kuspekov.
His colleague, deputy Arman Kalykov, proposed separating "drunk" accidents with multiple fatalities into a separate category with harsher sanctions. According to him, the decision to drive drunk is already a conscious choice of extreme risk, and classifying the consequences as "negligence" is legally untenable.
"The main thing is to form an understanding in society: drunk driving is not an administrative mistake, but a potentially deadly act. It's not individual measures that work, but their combination: inevitability of punishment, digital control, prevention," the deputy emphasized.
Deputy Abzal Kuspan took the opposite position. According to him, the article has already been tightened—after the high-profile Usenov case in Almaty. Then the legislator excluded the possibility of terminating cases involving deaths due to reconciliation of the parties and strengthened the sanction. Kuspan believes this is enough.
"There is no recidivism in such cases. We need to work on prevention and driving culture, not endlessly tighten the code," he stated.
Kuspan added that in 2025, parliament already adopted a law on crime prevention.
Recall that Maksat Usenov committed a fatal accident while driving a BMW X6 in early December 2013. However, he avoided responsibility due to reconciliation of the parties.
The accident occurred on the night of March 21 at the intersection of Al-Farabi Avenue and Mendykulov Street. According to the investigation, a Zeekr driven by Pak drove into the oncoming lane and collided with a Mercedes. Three people died. During the trial, all injured parties reconciled with the defendant and asked the court to impose a punishment not related to imprisonment.