A Criminal Anniversary

Twenty years ago, a drunken German consul Steffen Laas, driving a Germany embassy’s SUV, turned into oncoming traffic to collide with a minibus. He killed a Kazakh woman Turakhan Okassova — a mom of many kids — in this hit-and-run accident on June 6, 2004, crippling another woman, Elmakhan Toktaubayeva, for life. Six other minibus passengers, including two children, were also wounded. Both Mr. Laas and his boyfriend, who was also drunk, fled the crime scene without performing first aid to the injured, leaving behind themselves an opened bottle of Cognac in the smashed SUV.

The murderous diplomatist has not been punished for his crime. Moreover, a Kazakh journalist Aleksei Gostev was denied a visa to Germany in 2006 due to his critical articles about the fatal road accident. Even twenty years after the incident, the German Foreign Ministry has refused to provide information about its interaction with their Kazakh counterparts as for a compensation for the crime victims and the culprit’s punishment. They even pretended to be a wrong number, when I made a phone call to the Ministry on February 19, 2024 in order to speak with Mr. Laas himself. For the sake of comparison, I should mention a Kazakh consul Akhat Alpysbayev and his subordinate, who were imprisoned in Germany for smuggling cigarettes, 2014. A classical example of double standards! Oddly enough, the German criminal has been promoted by the Foreign Ministry of Germany. Afterwards, he held sine cura diplomatic positions in Russia and USA — the key partners of Germany. Mr. Laas was a public relations officer both in Yekaterinburg and Washington, DC. It is utterly disgusting that the fugitive killer was a German spokesman there! German media have turned a deaf ear on this crime, effectively preventing the possible public outcry in Germany. Incidentally, mainstream media of Kazakhstan have diligently informed us about the smuggling Kazakh diplomatists. In this respect, Kazakhstan enjoys more freedom of speech than Germany does. By the way, a Russia’s information agency also covered the deadly road accident.

Moreover, German investigators and judges have sometimes demonstrated notorious long-sightedness, punishing ostensible criminals of the past, while short-sightedly ignoring real criminals of the present. In December 2022, a 97-years old typist Irmgard Furchner was found guilty of complicity in 10,500 murders. But, this senile woman was a civil servant with no blood on her hands! There are virtually no witnesses alive to prove or disprove her case. The nearly centennarian Frau Furchner hardly presents any danger whatsoever to anyone. It is nice and easy to chase ghosts of the time long gone by, rather than to fight the latter-day’s wrongdoers. However, vigorous Mr. Laas has not only skillfully evaded any responsibility whatsoever, but he also enjoys a highly-paid diplomatic job in Berlin, which many law-abiding and talented Germans can only dream of.

Why the official Berlin has refused to admit its guilt so far? Because, such a noble step would entail a hefty price tag. For example, the Lybian government agreed to pay $10 million to each family of the 270 victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. In our case, families of the Kazakh victims asked for €1 million (one million euro) overall.

The venal Kazakh government must be held accountable too. Because, it has not provided its suffering compatriots with professional foreign lawyers and journalists in order to pressure the criminal Germans globally. It is noteworthy that the current president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, was the Kazakh foreign minister at the time of Mr. Laas’ crime and its investigation. But, first and foremost, the Kazakhs must have arrested Mr. Laas domestically. There have been cases, where foreign diplomatists have been persecuted despite their immunity. An Indian deputy consul general in New York, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested for visa fraud by US State Department Diplomatic Security Service agents on December 12, 2013. A Swedish EU diplomatist Johan Floderus was arrested on April 17, 2022, by Iranian authorities for gathering information for the benefit of the Zionist regime. True or false, the charges against Ms. Khobragade and Mr. Floderus have been much milder than the grave crime, perpetrated by Mr. Laas.

For the sake of comparison, a similar crime should be mentioned. On May 1, 2011 in Almaty, a Russian diplomatist Andrei Mamayev (pictured above), driving an electric car, hit a 4-year old Kazakh girl Liliya Smetanina, breaking her two legs. Also, as a result of the misfortune, the little girl’s spleen was removed. Mr. Mamayev didn’t deny his guilt. Through his wife Natalya, the Russian paid some $100 (one hundred US dollars) to Ms. Smetanina’s family. Reportedly, he was fired subsequently from the Foreign Ministry of Russia without a diplomatic pension. A few weeks after the electric car accident, the Russian consul general in Almaty, Borislav Meshchaninov, retired. However, Kazakh judicial and law-enforcement bodies, cringing before influential foreigners, were once again more than happy to close the criminal case under the pretext of diplomatic immunity of the defendant. By the way, mainstream Russian media such as Interfax News Agency and Regnum News Agency have reported about this incident. Although, the Russian culprit wasn’t punished accordingly, in this particular case Russian diplomatists have displayed much more integrity than their German counterparts. Thus, I regret to say that the Foreign Ministry of Germany has not been fully denazified yet.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)