Former Deputy Minister Erlan Qozhagapanov Released After Remaining Term Converted to Fine

Erlan Qozhagapanov, a former deputy minister of culture and sport in Kazakhstan who was convicted of abusing official powers, has been released after the penal authorities converted the remaining portion of his sentence into a fine. The Criminal Executive System Committee (Қылмыстық-атқару жүйесі комитеті) said Qozhagapanov had been serving his sentence in a detention facility overseen by the committee and that the unserved two months of his term were changed to a lighter punishment — specifically, a monetary penalty.

The committee’s statement stressed that decisions about substituting unfinished sentences with milder penalties, granting conditional early release or resolving other matters related to the enforcement of a court verdict fall under the exclusive competence of the judicial authorities. It said the committee carried out the administrative changes that resulted in Qozhagapanov’s release after the relevant legal procedures were applied to his case.

Qozhagapanov was found guilty on May 19 last year by the Interdistrict Specialized Criminal Court in Astana (Астананың қылмыстық істер жөніндегі ауданаралық арнайы соты) of abusing the powers of his office and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. The court also barred him for life from holding posts in state service, local self-government bodies, the National Bank of Kazakhstan (Қазақстан Ұлттық банкі) and its structures, and other state institutions, according to the verdict.

Authorities say the conviction relates to activities connected with a 2018 event: the “Kazakhstan and Russia Interregional Cooperation Forum” in Petropavl. Investigators alleged that when Qozhagapanov signed a contract with a commercial organization to organize the forum, he acted in that organization’s interests and that budget estimates for staging the forum had been inflated. According to the investigation’s findings cited at the time, the state suffered losses exceeding 1 billion tenge as a result.

Qozhagapanov was detained in early March 2024 and held in pretrial custody before his trial and sentencing. Prior to his detention and conviction, he held a number of prominent positions in Kazakhstan’s public life: he served as an adviser to the prime minister, first deputy mayor of Almaty, deputy minister of culture and sport, head of the agency for sport and physical culture, and president of the Kazakhstan Football Federation (Қазақстан футбол федерациясы).

The change in Qozhagapanov’s punishment — converting the remaining term to a fine and his consequent release — highlights the procedural mechanisms that can alter how sentences are served in Kazakhstan’s criminal justice system. The prison service framed the action as an administrative enforcement measure taken within the legal framework, while pointing to the central role of courts in decisions about sentence substitution and early release.

The case attracted public attention because of Qozhagapanov’s high-profile career in government and sports administration, the scale of the alleged financial loss tied to the forum contract, and the lifetime employment bans imposed by the court. Human rights and legal commentators often scrutinize such cases for transparency in prosecution, fairness of trial procedures, and how penalties are administered; the committee’s announcement leaves open whether further judicial or administrative actions related to the conviction will follow.

For now, Qozhagapanov is no longer in custody after serving the bulk of his three-year sentence and having the remaining portion converted to a fine, as communicated by the penal authorities. The court’s original restrictions on his future employment in state bodies remain part of the verdict handed down last year.