Rome, Oct. 22 (LaPresse) – The Court of Cassation has overturned the convictions of the five police officers charged in the Shalabayeva case, ordering a new appeal trial, the third, in Florence. At the centre of the case is the expulsion from Italy of Alma Shalabayeva, the wife of Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, and their six-year-old daughter in 2013. The decision comes after thirteen years of legal proceedings, involving acquittals, quashings and new convictions. The case began on May 29, 2013, in Casal Palocco, Rome, when Mobile Squad officers entered a villa in search of Ablyazov, a banker turned opponent of the Kazakh government who was wanted by the authorities in his country. The man was not found. At the residence, officers detained his wife and the child, accusing the woman of possessing a passport deemed to be forged. In less than two days, the mother and daughter were taken to Ciampino Airport and put on a flight to Kazakhstan. Subsequent checks, however, established that the document was authentic. With the grounds for the expulsion no longer valid, the government annulled the measure on July 12, 2013. Thus began a lengthy legal saga to establish responsibility for the operation. In 2020, the Court of Perugia handed down the first convictions. Two years later, the Court of Appeal acquitted all the defendants. In 2023, the Court of Cassation quashed that decision and ordered a new trial. In November 2025, at the end of the second appeal proceedings held in Florence, the convictions of five police officers were upheld: Renato Cortese, then head of the Mobile Squad, officials Francesco Stampacchia and Luca Armeni, Maurizio Improta, then head of the Immigration Office, and Vincenzo Tramma. The convictions concern falsification of official records aimed at facilitating unlawful detention. In the first-instance trial, sentences ranging from four to five years had been handed down to Cortese, Improta, Armeni and Stampacchia. Palmira Leoni had also been convicted and sentenced to three years and six months, while Justice of the Peace Stefania Lavore had received a two-year-and-six-month sentence for falsification of official records.
Shalabayeva case: Supreme Court overturns convictions and orders third appeal trial for five police officers
Rome, Oct. 22 (LaPresse) – The Court of Cassation has overturned the convictions of the five police officers charged in the Shalabayeva case, ordering a new appeal trial, the third, in Florence. At the centre of the case is the expulsion from Italy of Alma Shalabayeva, the wife of Kazakh dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov, and their six-year-old daughter in 2013. The decision comes after thirteen years of legal proceedings, involving acquittals, quashings and new convictions. The case began on May 29, 2013, in Casal Palocco, Rome, when Mobile Squad officers entered a villa in search of Ablyazov, a banker turned opponent of the Kazakh government who was wanted by the authorities in his country. The man was not found. At the residence, officers detained his wife and the child, accusing the woman of possessing a passport deemed to be forged. In less than two days, the mother and daughter were taken to Ciampino Airport and put on a flight to Kazakhstan. Subsequent checks, however, established that the document was authentic. With the grounds for the expulsion no longer valid, the government annulled the measure on July 12, 2013. Thus began a lengthy legal saga to establish responsibility for the operation. In 2020, the Court of Perugia handed down the first convictions. Two years later, the Court of Appeal acquitted all the defendants. In 2023, the Court of Cassation quashed that decision and ordered a new trial. In November 2025, at the end of the second appeal proceedings held in Florence, the convictions of five police officers were upheld: Renato Cortese, then head of the Mobile Squad, officials Francesco Stampacchia and Luca Armeni, Maurizio Improta, then head of the Immigration Office, and Vincenzo Tramma. The convictions concern falsification of official records aimed at facilitating unlawful detention. In the first-instance trial, sentences ranging from four to five years had been handed down to Cortese, Improta, Armeni and Stampacchia. Palmira Leoni had also been convicted and sentenced to three years and six months, while Justice of the Peace Stefania Lavore had received a two-year-and-six-month sentence for falsification of official records.