Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim has been remanded in custody on a new charge instead of being released as expected after serving out a 25-day jail term for a video on his YouTube channel that called for Kazakhs to protest against a deal giving visa-free travel to Chinese nationals.

According to attorney Ghalym Nurpeisov, his client on June 22 now faces charges of financing extremism and being involved in the activities of a banned group.

Nurpeisov added that the charges against Mukhammedkarim stem from his online interview with the fugitive banker and outspoken critic of the Kazakh government, Mukhtar Ablyazov, whose Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) movement was declared extremist and banned in March 2018.

Nupeisov said that Mukhammedkarim's health is currently poor after he developed kidney problems following a hunger strike he recently held to protest his arrest.

Mukhammedkarim will most likely be placed in pretrial detention no later than June 23, Nurpeisov said, emphasizing that if convicted, his client could face up to 12 years in prison.

Mukhammedkarim was handed a 25-day jail term on charge of violating regulations for public gatherings in late May, just two days after he had finished serving a similar sentence.

Those charges stemmed from a video on Mukhammedkarim's YouTube channel that called on Kazakhs to defend their rights and his online calls for residents in the Central Asian country's largest city, Almaty, to rally against the government's move to introduce visa-free access to Kazakhstan for Chinese citizens.

Rights watchdogs have criticized authorities in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic for persecution of dissent, but Astana has shrugged the criticism off, saying there are no political prisoners in the country.

Kazakhstan was ruled by authoritarian President Nursultan Nazarbaev from independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 until current President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev succeeded him in 2019.

Over the past three decades, several opposition figures have been killed and many jailed or forced to flee the country.

Toqaev, who broadened his powers after Nazarbaev and his family left the oil-rich country's political scene following the deadly, unprecedented anti-government protests in January 2022, has promised political reforms and more freedoms for Kazakhs.

However, many in Kazakhstan, consider the reforms announced by Toqaev, cosmetic, as a crackdown on dissent has continued even after the president announced his "New Kazakhstan" program.