Journalist Rosa Yesenkulova, the former wife of KazTAG news agency editor-in-chief Amir Kassenov, spoke about domestic violence, the reasons for divorce, and the lack of transparency of her ex-husband's income. She wrote about this on Facebook. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

According to Yesenkulova, the reason for the publication was public statements by Amir Kassenov that his ex-wife allegedly caused him "serious mental trauma." The journalist decided to present her version of events that occurred in 2008.

Yesenkulova claims that the conflict in the family began on the wedding night. According to her, her husband became aggressive and began demanding that she fulfill the duties of a "real kelin" (daughter-in-law), despite her feeling unwell after the celebration.

"Because I did not serve tea to his relatives the way, in his opinion, a kelin should have (namely, kelin-chai at 6 a.m.), physical violence was applied to me with a trouser belt," Yesenkulova stated.

That same night, according to her, she kicked her husband out and ended their life together, and also contacted law enforcement, obtaining a protective order prohibiting Kassenov from contacting her.

Yesenkulova emphasizes that she is raising her son, who recently graduated from school, on her own. According to her, Kassenov then stated in court that he was unemployed and asked for time to "get back on his feet," completely shirking his paternal duties.

The monthly alimony received from Amir Kassenov's employer is 14,000 tenge. The journalist questions the reliability of the official salary of the agency's top manager.

"Those shameful 14,000 tenge that KazTAG sends me as alimony do not even cover a teenager's one-day expenses. And I want to ask, how does the editor-in-chief of an entire portal with a long history manage to support his second family with three children on such a meager salary?" she writes.

Yesenkulova notes that private bailiff Rustam Bolakbayev in Astana faces difficulties when trying to verify the debtor's real income.

"Why can't the bailiff still find out his true income, calculate the debt, and collect it for the child? Why doesn't Matayev (general director of KazTAG - ed.) and his accounting department give an official response to the bailiff? Are requests being selectively considered?" Yesenkulova asks.

At the end of the publication, she drew a parallel between the attitude towards family and the professional activities of her ex-husband: "And I want to ask: can you believe, trust a person and be sure that he is not deceiving the multi-thousand audience of KazTAG if he has been deceiving his own son for 18 years?!"

The issue of the income of the editor-in-chief of KazTAG has previously been raised in the public sphere. On social media, Rosa Yesenkulova noted that alimony of 14,000 tenge (25% of income) indicates that the official salary of the head of a major publication is a minimum of 85,000 tenge, and called it "an obvious concealment of true income."

Amir Kassenov and Asset Matayev are defendants in a criminal case related to publications concerning Freedom Finance. Recently, the court changed Amir Kassenov's preventive measure from house arrest to detention due to systematic violations of restrictions (publishing video messages online and failing to appear in court).

In 2025, KazTAG published more than 250 publications about Freedom Finance and its founder Timur Turlov, containing accusations of fraud and withdrawal of client funds. One of the main reasons was the statements of the company's client Karlygash Kaparova about the alleged theft of money by former employee Temirlan Bekov.

Later, the Department of Economic Investigations terminated the case against Bekov due to the absence of a crime. In February 2026, the Medeu District Court of Almaty granted Freedom Finance's lawsuit to protect business reputation and ordered the agency to refute information recognized as unreliable. In December 2025, KazTAG general director Asset Matayev and editor-in-chief Amir Kassenov became suspects in a case of spreading knowingly false information.