- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 1, 2024
- Event Description
On the morning of March 1st, 2024, reports surfaced alleging that Abzal Dostiyarov, an activist, was subjected to severe brutality by law enforcement officers. The incident occurred as he was taking his young daughter to kindergarten.
According to his live streams and relatives, Dostiyarov was seized and violently beaten by the police, resulting in head injuries and to his arm.
Following his detainment at the District Police Department, a court delivered a verdict in the evening, without thorough investigation, sentencing him to 20 days of detention in Shonja city. The charges against him stem from his alleged participation in and broadcasting of protests linked to the trial of independent journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim. Additional sources suggest that the arrest may be linked to the four applications submitted on March 3rd to hold a rally in Almaty in support of the accused journalist.
While Dostiyarov was not among those who appealed for a rally, it is likely that the police preventively detain known activists and political opposition. At least 5 more people have been arrested in the last three weeks just because they were suspected of attending the trial of Mukhammedkarim.
This is not a new phenomenon, as the state has been found prosecuting people who stand in solidarity with political prisoners. Previously almost 20 people were prosecuted for attending and publicly supporting Aigerim Tleuzhanova, another activist and journalist charged over her involvement in a plot to seize the country’s main airport during the January 2022 unrest.
Duman Mukhammedkarim is an independent journalist, who previously made a career working for a state-owned news channel. In 2021, he left the public sector and started his own YouTube channel, Ne Deidi (What’s said?). Known for his coverage of the events of Bloody January in 2022, his channel served as platform for political activism and critique of Kazakh authorities and institutions. His coverage on elections, activism, and rally organizing, has resulted in several of his arrests and much time spent in custody. In May 2023 a criminal case had been opened again Mukhammedkarim, during which he was already under administrative detention for allegedly violating regulations on peaceful assembly. By June, has been implicated as a suspect under two sections of the Criminal Code: “Participation in the activities of a banned organization” (Article 405, part 2) and “Financing of extremism” (Article 258, part 1). With the latter accusation risking imprisonment for five to nine years. According to a lawyer, Galum Nurpeisov, both criminal cases are linked to an interview he conducted with Mukhtar Ablyazov, an exiled opposition leader in December 2022. Ablyazov is the head of the opposition movement, Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, which has been recognized as an extremist organization by Kazakhstan authorities.
Duman Mukhammedkarim’s trial began on the 12th of February 2024. The judge granted Saken Kenesov’s, (the prosecutor), request to hold the trial behind closed doors, citing the risk of security concerns. Moreover, supporters and journalists were denied entry into the courtroom on the pretext of insufficient space in the courtroom. The closure of the trial results in limited access to information regarding the development of the case.
Closed trials are prevalent occurrences in Kazakhstan particularly when it comes to political activists and members of opposition. This was quite common with key cases related to the Bloody January events, with individuals such as Marat Zhylanbayev, a government critic and leader of unregistered party ‘Alga Kazakhstan.’ His trial was closed to the public and on November 30th was sentenced to seven years in prison on unfounded charges. Closed-court proceedings are frequent for government officials accused of malpractice, including torture and other human rights violations. For example, 11 officials charged for their involvement in the Bloody January protests have had their cases closed to the public, with many ending prematurely due to “insufficient evidence.”
Almost a year in detention, Mukhammedkarim criticised the conditions in the temporary detention centre, addressing issues regarding food, sanitation, and treatment of other detainees. Moreover, on the 1st of November, he described his multiple hunger strikes, self-harm incidents, and a suicide attempt made to attract the attention of authorities to the horrible conditions of his detention, but to no avail. The international response comprises of Human Rights Watch (HRW) statement, on the 8th of February, urging authorities to dismiss the baseless case against Mukhammedkarim and called for his immediate release. This comes amidst a surge in prosecutions against critics on similar grounds. HRW reveal that Mukhammedkarim is the second government critic to go on trial on broad extremism charges in recent months.
Both Mukhammedkarim and Dostiyarov are victims of the repressive tactics employed by Kazkakh authorities to silence and suppress activist dissent, while the attackers and officials guilty of torture have yet to be brought to justice.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Violence (physical), Wounds and Injuries
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Mar 13, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 3, 2024
- Event Description
On February 3, 2024, woman human rights defender Veronika Fonova was targeted while holding a solo protest in the city center in Almaty, Kazakhstan, aimed to raise awareness about the ban of the 2024 International Women’s Day March in Almaty by the city authorities. On 21 April 2023, the Specialised Inter-district Administrative Court of Almaty ruled to support the Akimat of Almaty’s ban of the International Women’s Day demonstration and a march in 2024. Following the attack, Veronika Fonova filed a complaint to the police.
Veronika Fonova is a feminist activist and woman human rights defender from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She is one of the founding members of the 8MarchKZ, a grassroots feminist movement that unites to organize the annual feminist and women’s march in Almaty on International Women’s Day. The organizing committee of the initiative includes a diverse group of women human rights defenders, who work to promote and protect women and LGBTQI+ rights. The first Women’s March in Almaty took place in 2017. Veronika is also a founding member of KazFem, a feminist collective that focuses on shifting public discourse on domestic violence in Kazakhstan.
On February 3, 2024, woman human rights defender Veronika Fonova held a solo protest in the city center of Almaty, Kazakhstan, after acquiring permission from the city authorities. She was holding a poster that had multiple statements in Kazakh and Russian languages, calling for the freedom of assembly and promoting criminalization of domestic violence. The poster also said: “We need a Demonstration on March 8.” While Veronika Fonova’s friends recorded a video of her holding a poster and explaining her message, a man wearing a medical mask pushed her, attempted to hit her, and snatched the poster from her. The attacker also requested to call the police on a woman human rights defender. The police arrived on site and collected statements both from Veronika Fonova and from her attacker.
Women human rights defenders from 8MarchKz suggested that this was an orchestrated attack. An attack like this could serve as a justification for the decision of the Almaty city authorities to ban the peaceful demonstration because it is a threat to public safety. Earlier, on February 1, 2024, 8MarchKZ held a press conference in Almaty’s Press Club, where the representatives outlined the timeline of their contend with the city authorities, which commenced in April 2023, discussed systemic resistance on the side of the authorities, and publically discussed security considerations that the organizers have for the Demonstration they have envisioned. They also focused on the need for spaces where women can raise their voices and repeated that the safety of women in Kazakhstan – the theme of the 2024 demonstration – is a pressing issue in the country.
In March 2023, right after the International Women’s Day protest in Almaty, the 8MarchKZ requested a permit for the next year's demonstration “For the Rights of Kazakhstani Women.” In April 2023, the city authorities of Almaty refused to issue the permit, citing a significant threat to security and public order. Women human rights defenders from 8MarchKZ took this decision to court; in April 2023, the Specialised Inter-district Administrative Court of Almaty ruled in support of the prohibition of the International Women’s Day March in 2024 by the Almaty city authorities. In June 2023, representatives of 8MarchKZ appealed this decision, and in the following September, the Court refused to lift the ban. In December 2023 and in January 2024, 8MarchKZ representatives requested another permit for their peaceful demonstration, announcing that the new theme of the demonstration would be “For Safety and Security of Women in Kazakhstan”; both of these requests were denied by the city authorities of Almaty, citing similar “threat of disturbing public order” reasoning.
Front Line Defenders condemns the attack against woman human rights defender Veronika Fonova and urges the Kazakhstani authorities to promptly investigate the attempted assault and bring the persons responsible to justice. At the same time, Front Line Defenders urges the Kazakhstani authorities not to misuse this attack against Veronika Fonova as a justification for the continued refusal to approve the 2024 Women’s March. Front Line Defenders continues to condemn the city authorities of Almaty's denial of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly to feminist and women’s rights defenders from 8MarchKZ. Front Line Defenders calls upon the authorities of Kazakhstan to ensure that the 8MarchKZ feminist initiative can exercise their rights to protect and promote women’s rights, and feminist agendas, and to peacefully assemble and march for the cause of International Women’s Day.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to Protest
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: 2024 Women’s March prohibited
- Date added
- Mar 12, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 12, 2024
- Event Description
Kazakhstan's Culture and Information Ministry said it has blocked the Selftanu.kz website, which focuses on LGBT relations. The ministry said the move was made "to protect children's rights" while taking into account "the culture and traditions of Kazakhstan’s society and culture." Although homosexual relations were decriminalized in Kazakhstan in the 1990s, the European Parliament noted in 2021 that LGBT citizens in the country are still discriminated against and that members of that community routinely face violence or harassment in the oil-rich Central Asian nation.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Censorship, Online Attack and Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Internet freedom, Freedom of expression Online, SOGI rights
- HRD
- SOGI rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 20, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jan 25, 2024
- Event Description
Opposition activist Madina Koketaeva has been sentenced to 15 days in jail for attending a peaceful protest in Almaty against the detention of activists who were detained during unrest at the city's airport. Zhanar Balgabaeva, Koketaeva's lawyer, said her client was handed the sentence on January 25. Koketaeva says she was beaten during her arrest -- which coincided with the arrival of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev on January 24 -- to the point where she needed hospitalization. "They are not going to let me go until Toqaev leaves the city," she told RFE/RL's Radio Azattyk.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 8, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jan 15, 2024
- Event Description
On January 15, police in the Kazakh capital, Astana, detained about a dozen protesters who approached the presidential office demanding justice for their relatives who were killed during anti-government protests in January 2022. At least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, were killed across Kazakhstan during the mass unrest caused by the dispersal of the protests after President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev ordered security forces "to shoot to kill," claiming that "20,000 terrorists trained abroad" had taken over the country's largest city, Almaty. The authorities have provided no evidence proving Toqaev's claim about foreign terrorists.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 8, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jan 3, 2024
- Event Description
Three activists from the Wake Up, Kazakhstan movement were arrested in Almaty on January 3 after they held a protest against the jailing on December 16 of three of their colleagues who had called for the commemoration of victims of the 1986 Kazakh youth uprising against the Kremlin and January 2022 anti-government protests. The activists detained on January 3 have been charged with holding an "illegal action." The December 16 protesters were sentenced to 25 days in jail. Their appeal of the case was rejected by the Almaty City Court.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 8, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 27, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry on December 27 added to its wanted list Dinara Smailova, the self-exiled leader of the NeMolchiKZ group, which monitors domestic violence cases in the Central Asian country. Kazakh authorities said earlier that they launched an investigation of Smailova (aka Dina Tangsari) on fraud charges. Smailova registered her group in Georgia, where she ived for some time, but after Georgia refused to allow her back in the country after an international trip earlier this year, she moved to an EU member state.
A Kazakh court on December 28 issued an arrest warrant for Dinara Smailova, the self-exiled leader of NeMolchiKZ group, which monitors domestic violence in Kazakhstan. Kazakh authorities said on December 28 that Smailova (aka Dina Tangsari) was accused of fraud, violating laws on privacy, and spreading false information. Smailova registered her group in Georgia, where she lived for some time, but after Georgia refused to allow her back in the country after an international trip earlier this year, she moved to an EU member state.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Government, Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 15, 2023
- Event Description
Ghalym Nurpeisov, a lawyer for jailed Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim, said on December 15 that his client’s pretrial detention was extended by at least one month. Mukhammedkarim, whose Ne Deidi? (What Do They Say?) YouTube channel is very popular in Kazakhstan, was sent to pretrial detention in June on suspicion of financing an extremist group and participation in the activities of the banned opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan movement, charges that he and his supporters have said are politically motivated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: media worker jailed for violating court ban
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 14, 2023
- Event Description
A court in Kazakhstan's western city of Oral on December 14 sentenced local activist Marua Eskendirova to 25 days in jail after finding her guilty of calling for an anti-government rally. The charge stemmed from posts on Eskendirova's social network account calling for protests against the policies of the Central Asian country's government. Eskendirova has rejected the charge, arguing that she had not used the social network account since her mobile phone was stolen two years ago. Eskendirova was handed a parole-like sentence in February for having links with the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan -- a banned opposition group.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 6, 2023
- Event Description
The Qaharman rights group in Kazakhstan said on December 22 that a court in Astana handed an additional 15 days in jail to activists Aset Abishev and Aidar Syzdykov two days earlier on a charge of disobeying police orders. The two were arrested on December 6 near a detention center where they were awaiting the release of their colleague and sentenced later to 15 days in jail each on hooliganism charges which they rejected as politically motivated. Rights activists in Kazakhstan say pressure on dissent has increased as the second anniversary of unprecedented anti-government protests that turned violent approaches.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 26, 2023
- Event Description
A court of appeals in the western Kazakh city of Oral on December 26 rejected an appeal filed by activist Marua Eskendirova against a 25-day jail term she was handed almost two weeks before on a charge of calling on the Internet for an anti-government rally. Eskendirova has rejected the charge, arguing that she had not used the social network account where the calls in question had allegedly appeared, saying her mobile phone was stolen two years ago. Eskendirova was handed a parole-like sentence in February for having links to Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan, a banned opposition group.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 29, 2023
- Event Description
The Almaty City Court on December 29 rejected appeals filed by activists Bota Sharipzhan and Ravkhat Mukhtarov of the Oyan Qazaqstan (Wake Up, Kazakhstan) movement against their incarceration. The activists were sentenced to 15 days in jail each earlier this week on a charge of violating regulations for public gatherings. On December 16, Kazakhstan’s Independence Day, Sharipzhan, Mukhtarov, and several other activists rallied in Almaty with posters calling for the commemoration of victims of the 1986 Kazakh youth uprising against the Kremlin and the January 2022 anti-government protests. Several activists were handed up to 25 days in jail before and after Independence Day.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jan 30, 2024
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 29, 2023
- Event Description
A court in Astana on November 29 sentenced the chairman of Kazakhstan's unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, to seven years in prison after finding him guilty of taking part in a banned group's activities and financing an extremist group. Zhylanbaev rejected the charges against him, calling them politically motivated. He has been on a hunger strike since late October protesting against a court decision to hold his trial, which started on November 1 behind closed doors. Human Rights Watch has urged the Kazakh authorities to immediately release Zhylanbaev.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 20, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 4, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have blocked five Kazakh men and women from approaching the Chinese Consulate, where they planned to demand the release of their relatives imprisoned in so-called reeducation camps in China's northwestern region of Xinjiang.
The protesters, who planned to picket the Chinese Consulate on December 4, told RFE/RL that it was the 1,000th day of their rallies "against China's genocidal politics against ethnic Kazakhs, Uyghurs, and Kyrgyz," as well as other indigenous peoples of the region.
According to the protesters, their relatives in Xinjiang were incarcerated either for being practicing Muslims or for posts on the Internet.
China has been accused of human rights violations against Kazakhs, Uyghurs and other mostly Turkic-speaking indigenous ethnic groups over the existence of mass detention camps in Xinjiang.
Beijing denies that the facilities are internment camps, saying its actions are aimed at combating terrorism. People who have fled the province, however, say people from the ethnic groups are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities officially referred to as reeducation camps.
Amid ongoing rallies and pickets in front of China's diplomatic missions in Kazakhstan, the Chinese Embassy said in March 2021 that all ethnic Kazakhs incarcerated in Xinjiang are Chinee citizens and are being held there for breaking Chinse laws.
Several relatives of the protesters were released and allowed to travel to Kazakhstan in recent years.
Kazakh authorities refrain from openly criticizing the policies of China, one of their main creditors.
The U.S. State Department has said that as many as 2 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and members of Xinjiang's other indigenous, mostly Muslim ethnic groups have been taken to detention centers.
Kazakhs are the second-largest Turkic-speaking indigenous community in Xinjiang after Uyghurs. The region is also home to ethnic Kyrgyz, Tajiks, and Hui, also known as Dungans. Han, China's largest ethnicity, is the second-largest community in Xinjiang.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Minority rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 10, 2023
- Event Description
A Kazakh court has delivered a suspended sentence to Nazym Tabyldieva for her online posts slamming President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev and three regional prosecutors. Tabyldieva's supporters waiting outside the court in Almaty on November 10 were relieved because the prosecutor had demanded imprisonment on charges of "disseminating false information" and "defaming officials." The judge has ruled that the 36-year-old anti-government activist will be on probation for a year and a half and will be banned from political and social activities, including publications on social media, for five years. The verdict can be appealed. One of the charges concerned a video Tabyldieva made, accusing President Toqaev of "pursuing Russian policies."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Censorship, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Online
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 19, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 10, 2023
- Event Description
The Almaty City Court on November 10 rejected the appeals of five activists against prison terms they were handed in July after a lower court found them guilty of "organizing mass unrest at Almaty airport" during unprecedented anti-government protests in January 2022 that turned deadly. Noted civil rights activist Aigerim Tileuzhanova was sentenced to four years in prison, while the other activists, all men, received eight years in prison each. Some were also charged with storming a building, vehicle hijacking, and robbery. All have denied wrongdoing, saying they did not commit any crimes while taking part in the demonstration.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 7, 2023
- Event Description
Dozens of activists and oil workers in the restive southwestern Kazakh town of Zhanaozen have demanded the immediate release of of independent trade union leader Amin Eleusinov, who was sentenced to 15 days in jail for violating regulations for public gatherings on November 7. Late on November 8, the oil workers warned that they would "carry out all actions allowed by law" if Eleusinov was not released. In early January 2022, protests in Zhanaozen against fuel price hikes led to unprecedented nationwide unrest that turned deadly. In 2011, at least 16 activists were killed in Zhanaozen when police violently dispersed a protest.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 8, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh rights activist Sanavar Zakirova told RFE/RL on November 8 that an Astana court sentenced her to 15 days in jail for "online calls for unsanctioned rallies." The charge stems from a Facebook post last month calling for a protest rally. Zakirova insists that she was tagged in the post but did not write it. Another activist, Makhabbat Qusaiynova, told the court that she authored the post, but the judge ignored her statement. Zakirova, an outspoken critic of the government, has been sentenced to several jail terms in recent years.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Denial Fair Trial, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to fair trial, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Sep 29, 2023
- Event Description
An interdistrict court in Astana has rejected a complaint by an unregistered movement called Atazhurt protesting the Kazakh Justice Ministry's refusal to grant it registration, according to the group's local representative.
Kapar Ahatuly said the special court concluded on September 29 that the complaint was groundless based on the presence of deceased people on Atazhurt's petition for registration as well as an Excel formatting mistake.
Ahatuly dismissed the accusation that the list of at least 700 petitioners might include any dead people.
Contacted by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, the Justice Ministry declined to comment.
Atazhurt was started by Serikzhan Bilash, an ethnic Kazakh from Xinjiang who moved to Kazakhstan in 2000 and received citizenship in 2011, and later helped highlight alleged mass abuses against Uyghurs in western China.
Kazakh officials have bristled at China's treatment of ethnic Kazakhs and Uyghurs but have avoided joining international condemnations of Beijing for the alleged mass roundups and brutality.
China is a major trade partner with Kazakhstan and a significant investor in Kazakh projects.
Bilash led the Atazhurt Eriktileri (Volunteers of the Fatherland) group, which in 2018-19 staged several gatherings of ethnic Kazakhs from Xinjiang who have resettled in Kazakhstan and asked for help securing the release of their relatives and friends from reeducation camps in Xinjiang.
Kazakh authorities in March 2019 arrested Bilash and charged him with inciting ethnic hatred. They held him in custody for five months before fining and releasing him.
Bilash later fled Kazakhstan.
Kazakh officials reject accusations that they withhold registrations for political reasons.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Minority Rights, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Minority rights defender, NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 22, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Sep 20, 2023
- Event Description
On September 20, 2023, the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan released a register listing 240 individuals and legal entities receiving support from foreign countries and international and foreign organisations. Among the listed entities are human rights organisations, environmental funds, legal foundations, media outlets, and individual journalists. Among others, the list features two FIDH member organisations, namely the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. Concerningly, the list also included personal information on individual journalists, including their personal identification numbers.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Finance explained the publication by the need to "increase the level of trust of citizens – both in the state and in non-governmental organisations". The signatory organisations fear, however, that such justifications are merely rhetorical, and that the real intention of the authorities is to discredit and stigmatise the legitimate work of the civil society organisations listed in the register. The publication appears to imply that all foreign funds are automatically suspect.
Following the register’s publication on September 25, 2023, the public association "Echo" had its bank account temporarily frozen. Nurbank, the organisation’s account manager, identified withdrawals of funds from the United States and requested documentation to confirm their designated use.
The register appears amid Kazakhstan’s persistent attempts to harass NGOs over the reception of foreign funding. In December 2015 and July 2016, tax authorities imposed demanding reporting requirements on non-profit organisations receiving foreign funds. In 2020-2021, a dozen local human rights groups were targeted with fines and possible suspension over alleged financial reporting violations. FIDH member organisations, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the International Legal Initiative Foundation, faced temporary suspension over minor financial reporting inaccuracies.
Alarmingly, these efforts to curtail the ability of civil society organisations to access foreign funding, and the publication of the list, echo the Russian Federation’s so-called foreign agent legislation and practice. For over a decade, Russian authorities have used the foreign agent legislation to stigmatise, silence, shut down civil society groups, human rights initiatives, independent media and others. The Russian legislation has been criticized by various international entities for infringing upon the freedom of association. Back in 2009, Margaret Sekaggya, former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, emphasized that the right to freedom of association inherently includes the ability of human rights organisations to seek, receive, and utilise funding. She further highlighted that civil society should have access to foreign funding as a component of international cooperation, on a par with governments.
The Observatory, and FIDH’s member organisations, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, ILI Foundation, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, urge Kazakhstan’s authorities to halt their endeavors to restrict civil society actors from receiving foreign grants and to cease their attempts to discredit organisations that receive such funding. Instead, the signatory organisations call on the authorities to regard civil society initiatives as a resource and to facilitate a strong and vibrant civil society throughout the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Vilification
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of association, Right to access to funding, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- NGO
- Perpetrator-State
- Government
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: NGOs face fresh wave of harassment
- Date added
- Oct 12, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Sep 22, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have detained three civil rights activists on unspecified charges. Abzal Dostiyarov, Marat Turymbetov, and Maira Gabdullina were detained separately on September 22. Dostiyarov's lawyer Zhanar Balghabaeva told RFE/RL that her client is suspected of violating a law on mass gatherings. Police gave no more details, the lawyer said. Human rights activist Rinat Rafqat said the trio's detainments were linked to their participation in a rally in front of a court on September 19, demanding the release of imprisoned activist Aigerim Tileuzhan.
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 12, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Aug 24, 2023
- Event Description
In a video shot in a prison in northern Kazakhstan, a man sporting a shaved head and prison overalls tries to respond as a penitentiary officer accuses him of violating protocols.
“You have been warned twice! Why are you refusing? Why do you refuse to clean?" the officer demands in the footage before ordering a group of subordinates to “use the special equipment.”
The men then proceed to grab the prisoner and pin him to the floor, face down.
“I’m not refusing!” the prisoner can be heard saying, before a man begins striking his lower body with a baton.
The prisoner’s protestations are replaced by screams.
That widely shared footage was initially published by an opposition social media channel that indicated it was shot on August 24.
Around a dozen staff at the No. 1 jail in Atbasar, some 200 kilometers from Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, are believed to have been suspended amid the uproar.
Some of those men have recorded a video defending their actions, arguing that the measures taken against this prisoner and others captured in the footage were necessary to prevent a riot.
President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev’s position on such practices would appear to be clear cut.
Speaking two months after regime-shaking political unrest last year that left at least 228 people dead and evidence of systematic torture of detainees, Toqaev condemned “barbaric medieval happenings…that contradict the principles of any progressive society.”
But since then there have been proportionally few officers convicted or even dismissed over their roles in those manifold abuses.
The identity of the prisoner in the video, moreover, is awkward for Toqaev.
Timur Danebaev, 38, is best known as the activist who attempted to sue the president over comments he made during that crisis, which began with peaceful protests over a spike in fuel prices before spiraling out of control.
That fact, combined with the mystery about how and by whom the video was leaked, has fueled pernicious theories that the leak was no accident at all.
“It seems to me that the video…is not at all an oversight by prison staff,” wrote Lukpan Akhmedyarov, a well-known journalist, in a September 5 Facebook post.
“The video was made public by order of the authorities. None of the prison employees will be held accountable. Because this video is actually a DEMONSTRATION of power,” he claimed.
‘Breaking’ Prisoners
Whether Akhmedyarov’s prediction will hold, only time will tell.
It is not easy to track the career trajectories of low-ranking officers involved in torture scandals, especially when their identities are not made public.
A September 6 press release by the Committee of the Criminal Executive System of the Kazakh Internal Affairs Ministry stated that Akmola Province’s top penal officer, his deputy, and the head of the Atbasar jail had all been recommended for dismissal from their posts as part of an ongoing investigation.
Eleven penitentiary guards were likewise recommended for dismissal from the Interior Ministry after the investigation found “signs of employees exceeding their official mandate,” the statement said, without naming names.
That is presumably the same 11 who released the video this week denying wrongdoing. The video was filmed in the darkness of night, and all of the men were wearing face coverings.
“There was no torture of defendants, but enforcement of compliance with the regime of confinement by legal physical means,” said the group’s speaker.
The speaker went on to claim that more than 40 prisoners had arrived at the prison in late August “with aggressive intent…. They wanted to start a riot.”
“All of our actions were agreed with the supervisory organs,” the speaker noted.
Many will find that last part all too easy to believe.
Vadim Kuramashin, a journalist who some 15 years ago spent a stint in the same jail where Danebaev was shown being beaten, told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service that the process of “breaking” new residents of the jail is more or less a routine.
Having been imprisoned in early 2007 over a newspaper article, Kuramashin was isolated in a room where he was forced to clean toilets with a toothbrush, he said.
“When I asked them to show me the norm or law [that mandates cleaning], they began to beat me severely,” Kuramushin recalled.
Elena Semyonova, a longtime antitorture activist, was permitted to visit Danebaev this week.
Semyonova said that his health was “more or less [OK]” despite his body showing evidence of beatings.
“But he is psychologically depressed,” Semyonova told RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, known locally as Azattyq. “A person who has never been in this system, who has completely different ideas.... He didn't expect this to happen. It came as a shock to him.”
‘Men With Epaulets And Uniforms’
In addition to criticizing Kazakhstan’s government, Danebaev has regularly criticized its ally Russia over the Kremlin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
He was also critical of Moscow’s intervention during the January 2022 crisis in Kazakhstan, when Toqaev invited a detachment of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to bolster his government’s control.
In December of last year, the activist was charged with inciting hatred and “insulting the national honor and dignity of citizens” in online videos and posts published on October 10 and November 12, 2022.
But he had already attracted the attention of authorities in February of that year after he tried to initiate a false information lawsuit against Toqaev over the president’s claim that “20,000 terrorists” had descended on Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, during the unrest.
“I have the right to file a complaint against the president or any other citizen,” an impassioned Danebaev told Azattyq in an interview last year.
“Because my rights are absolutely the same as the president’s.”
Well, maybe in theory.
In reality, Danebaev’s filing was ignored, and the police soon showed up on his doorstep, marking the beginning of a campaign of pressure that would culminate in his arrest.
In June of this year, he was sentenced to three years in prison on the charges.
In his Facebook post on the case, the journalist Akhmedyarov argued that Danebaev’s case was one of several that indicated Kazakhstan’s police state is once more baring its fangs, having been somewhat chastened by public criticism during last year’s violence.
Back then, Toqaev was promising a New Kazakhstan after effectively sidelining former President Nursultan Nazarbaev -- the architect of Kazakh authoritarianism and a man who had continued to overshadow his successor Toqaev’s presidency prior to the crisis.
But the political reforms promoted by Toqaev since then have been widely criticized as cosmetic, while a reshuffle of the cabinet and other positions this month mainly saw old politicians recycled into new roles.
One of them, noted Akhmedyarov, was Marat Akhmetzhanov, who swapped the post of interior minister for that of governor of Akmola Province, which surrounds Astana and includes the town of Atbasar in its territory.
Such an appointment echoes trends in Kazakhstan’s northern neighbor, Russia, Akhmedyarov argued.
It also indicates “that positions that were previously occupied exclusively by civilian 'suits' will now gradually be given to men with epaulets and uniforms,” the journalist forecasted.
Notwithstanding Toqaev’s affirmations, the government is doing little to convince the public that it takes torture seriously.
In the aftermath of the January 2022 events, dozens of former detainees complained of mistreatment and many still had the broken ribs to back it up.
But most cases have either been thrown out or have otherwise not made it to court.
Cases that involved deaths in detention during the unrest have been harder to ignore.
One recent conviction concerned the case of Eldos Kaliev, who died in a jail in the city of Semey.
The officer accused in that case was sentenced to six years imprisonment by a city court at the beginning of August.
But two other officers found guilty on August 23 of torturing another young Semey resident to death fared better.
They were handed suspended sentences and ordered to pay compensation -- just under $10,000 each – to the family of the deceased.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Torture, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Blogger/ Social Media Activist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 14, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Aug 18, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh authorities should swiftly investigate the recent use of force against journalist Diana Saparkyzy, prosecute those involved, and ensure that members of the press can cover events of public importance without obstruction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On Friday, August 18, Saparkyzy, a correspondent for independent news agency KazTAG, was attempting to report on an accident at the Kazakhstanskaya mine in the central Karaganda region when around five unidentified men forcibly ejected her from the mine’s grounds, dragging her by her arms, took her phone, and deleted video footage, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app.
Five miners died in a fire at the mine on August 17. The company that owns the mine, ArcelorMittal Temirtau – part of the global ArcelorMittal Group – describes itself as Kazakhstan’s largest steel and mining producer. The company has been noted for the high number of fatalities at its mines in the region and Saparkyzy told CPJ it has restricted access to its sites for journalists for several years. She believes the company forcibly removed her to suppress coverage of the disaster.
CPJ emailed ArcelorMittal Temirtau for comment but did not receive a reply.
“The violent ejection of journalist Diana Sapakyzy while reporting on a mining disaster seems a deliberate and brutal stifling of coverage that is clearly in the public interest,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Kazakh authorities should investigate and prosecute those involved to send a message that violence against journalists will not be tolerated and that the press’s right to report on public disasters will be upheld.”
Saparkyzy told CPJ that she decided to report from the site of the Kazakhstanskaya mine after ArcelorMittal Temirtau published limited information about the fire in press releases and allowed journalists only to attend a pre-arranged press conference.
She said she entered the company’s office at the Kazakhstanskaya site without identifying herself as a journalist and recorded several interviews with deceased miners’ relatives. When staff from the company’s press service recognized her, they told security guards to “chuck her out.”
Rather than uniformed guards, who were also present, Saparkyzy said around five plainclothes men who did not identify themselves grabbed her tightly by the arms and dragged her out of the building. The men took her backpack and threw out her belongings and equipment, including glasses and a tripod, as they escorted her to the mine’s gates, she said.
When Saparkyzy began filming the men on her cell phone, one of them grabbed her by both arms from behind and another man took her phone, according to the journalist and footage of the incident from the phone shared with CPJ. The man deleted video Saparkyzy had recorded, but she was able to restore it after retrieving her phone, which the men dropped while she was struggling with them, she said.
The journalist suffered bruising on her arms and filed a complaint with police and underwent a forensic medical examination. As of August 22, police have not opened a criminal case over the incident, Saparkyzy said.
In a statement August 21, local press freedom group Adil Soz called for the perpetrators to be criminally prosecuted for obstructing journalistic activity, saying they had been encouraged to act so “brazenly” by Kazakhstan’s low rate of prosecution for the offense. Only two cases of criminal obstruction have reached the courts in the country’s 30 years of independence, the rights organization said.
CPJ’s calls, emails, and messages to Karaganda Region Police Department and email to Karaganda Region Prosecutor’s Office went unanswered.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Extractive industries
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 6, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Aug 11, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakhstan journalist Sandugash Duysenova, known for her investigative work on social issues and corruption, was humiliated and tortured by investigators during detention. The journalist was brought into custody over an article she wrote, all charges against her were later dropped. The Coalition For Women In Journalism vehemently condemns the abuse by police and calls on authorities to investigate Duysevnova’s allegations immediately and prosecute those responsible.
On August 11, 2023, Sandugash Duysenova was detained by police in the Zhetysu region of southeastern Kazakhstan. The journalist was charged with privacy violation and disclosing personal information after publishing an article that revealed the identity number of a convicted murderer.
During her time in police custody in Taldykorgan, Sandugash Duysenova was forced to strip naked and was filmed by investigators, who tortured and humiliated her. They also threatened to harm her family if she did not confess to the charges against her.
Such acts of police torture and harassment against journalists have far-reaching and devastating consequences. They inflict physical and psychological trauma, undermine freedom of expression, erode public trust in law enforcement agencies, discourage investigative journalism, and instill fear, effectively silencing journalists.
Upon her release, Duysenova called for an investigation into the police abuse she endured and for those responsible to be held accountable.
Her case has garnered attention from both local and international media, as well as human rights organizations. Local journalist organizations issued an open letter to the Kazakh President, urging the prevention of torture and degrading treatment of journalists within law enforcement agencies. Activists also highlighted that forcing the reporter to strip naked and recording her can be seen as an attempt to pressure Duysenova due to her journalistic work.
Human rights organizations called on Kazakh officials to adhere to their constitution which prohibits torture as well as the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which the country has ratified.
On August 15, 2023, the prosecutor general's office dismissed the criminal case against Duysenova due to a lack of evidence. The journalist welcomed the decision and expressed gratitude to her supporters for their solidarity.
Despite the trauma she experienced, the award-winning journalist remains determined to continue her important journalistic work and political activism. Last year, Duysenova was presented with the International Media CAMP Award for her photograph depicting the toppled statue of Nursultan Nazarbaev in Taldykorgan during the period of crackdowns in Kazakhstan in January 2022.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism stands in solidarity with Sandugash Duysenova and calls for justice to be served. We call on Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to urgently condemn the horrific treatment of Duysenova in police custody and urge the Human Rights Ombudsman and Public Prosecutor to conduct a thorough investigation into the journalist’s claims and hold those responsible to account.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Sexual Violence, Torture, Vilification, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security, Right to protect reputation
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 6, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Aug 21, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakhstan's Supreme Court on August 21 rejected an appeal filed by lawyers of opposition activist Erulan Amirov over a lower court ruling to sentence him to seven years in prison on terrorism charges. Amirov's relatives and supporters chanted "Shame!" after the ruling was pronounced. Amirov was sentenced in May last year over his posts on social media that criticized Kazakh authorities, as well as for his participation in unsanctioned protest rallies organized by the banned Koshe (Street) political party. Kazakh human rights organizations have designated Amirov as a political prisoner and have demanded his release.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Sep 6, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jul 19, 2023
- Event Description
Residents of the village of Maraldy in the East Kazakhstan region said on July 20 that local activists have clashed with workers constructing a gold-producing facility in the area. According to the villagers, the activists demanded a halt to the construction work, citing environmental issues. A local resident, Nurzhaqyp Qabylbaev, told RFE/RL that the company's security brutally dispersed the villagers and journalists who were at the site before police arrived. Local residents have been protesting the construction of the gold-producing plant in the area for years.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, Environmental rights defender
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Corporation Extractive industries
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Aug 4, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jul 10, 2023
- Event Description
On July 3, the Saryagash District Specialized Administrative Court in Kazakhstan’s southern Turkestan region sentenced Batyrbekov, chief editor of local independent newspaper S-Inform, to 20 days’ administrative detention over a March 10 Facebook post accusing a parliamentary deputy of corruption. He was taken from the courtroom to begin his sentence.
Batyrbekov denied the charges and said he plans to appeal the verdict.
In a statement, the local free speech group Adil Soz described the ruling as “unlawful,” saying the court failed to prove Batyrbekov had knowingly spread false information.
In 2019, Batyrbekov was sentenced to two years and three months on insult and defamation charges. In January 2022, he survived an assassination attempt allegedly organized by a local official in retaliation for his reporting.
“The 20-day prison sentence for Kazakh journalist Amangeldy Batyrbekov, who has been frequently targeted with defamation charges and even attempted murder for his reporting, is deeply troubling,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said, in London. “Kazakh authorities should free Batyrbekov immediately and reform their defamation laws to ensure that journalists are not jailed for their reporting.”
In the March 10 post, Batyrbekov alleged that parliamentary deputy Bolatbek Nazhmetdinuly was connected to corruption cases, pointing to a 2019 fraud case in which Batyrbekov said Nazhmetdinuly was allegedly a suspect and that police had “mysteriously closed.”
In court, Batyrbekov showed what he said was a signed police document identifying Nazhmetdinuly as a suspect, according to Adil Soz. However, the investigator whose signature was purportedly on that document told the court that he denied signing it, saying Nazhmetdinuly was a witness and not a suspect.
Nazhmetdinuly told CPJ by email that his lawyer contacted Batyrbekov in the comments section under that post and asked him not to spread inaccurate information and to delete the post. When Batyrbekov refused to take down the post, Nazhmetdinuly filed a defamation complaint on March 15, he said.
Nazhmetdinuly told CPJ that investigators in the March 15 defamation case provided Batyrbekov with a document stating that the parliamentarian had not been a suspect in that case.
Judge Berik Kaipov ruled Batyrbekov had spread information without checking its accuracy, and that simply fining the journalist would be “insufficient” punishment, according to Adil Soz.
A person close to the journalist told CPJ that Batyrbekov believed authorities had falsified the document to favor Nazhmetdinuly’s description of the case.
That person, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, said Batyrbekov had frequently written posts and articles critical of Kaipov and that the judge had twice previously convicted the journalist of defamation. Those rulings were later overturned by higher courts, that person said.
CPJ’s calls and messages to Batyrbekov’s lawyer and email to the Saryagash Specialized Administrative Court went unanswered.
In 2020, Kazakhstan decriminalized defamation but maintained punishments of up to 30 days’ detention for the offense in its administrative code.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 17, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jun 21, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh activist Malik Akhmetqaliev has been detained in the northern city of Kokshetau on charges of illegal drugs possession, which his supporters call retaliation for his frequent criticism of the activities of authorities. Local media quoted law enforcement on June 23 as saying that Akhmetqaliev was detained two days earlier and his pretrial restrictions have yet to be decided by a court. Akhmetqaliev, who is a member of the Public Council group that monitors local authorities' activities in the capital of the Aqmola region that surrounds Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, has been known for his criticism of the authorities for years.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jul 7, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jun 22, 2023
- Event Description
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.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: media worker given another 25-day jail term, two days after finishing a similar sentence
- Date added
- Jun 23, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jun 8, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, and the country's largest city, Almaty, detained at least 14 activists from the unregistered Algha, Kazakhstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) political party on June 8. Almaty-based human rights defender Bakhytzhan Toreghozhina told reporters on June 9 that the detentions were made to prevent rallies the party planned during the ongoing two-day Astana International Forum, where participants discuss a broad range of issues including climate change, and food and energy security.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Jun 14, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 28, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim has launched a hunger strike to protest against a 25-day jail term he was handed on May 28, two days after he had finished serving a similar sentence. Mukhammedkarim’s lawyer told RFE/RL that a court in the southern town of Qonaev sentenced his client on a charge of violating regulations for public gatherings because of a video on Mukhammedkarim's YouTube channel that called on Kazakhs to defend their rights. His previous 25-day sentence was on the same charge over his online calls for Almaty residents to rally against the government's move to introduce visa-free entry to Kazakhstan for Chinese citizens.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: media worker jailed for violating court ban
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 23, 2023
- Event Description
On May 23, the court of the city of Uralsk sentenced Aslan Otepov, the leader of the "People's Against Corruption" public association, to 8 years in prison.
Aslan Otepov, the leader of the People Against Corruption group in Kazakhstan’s northwestern city of Oral, has been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of fraud and bribe-taking that he and his supporters have rejected as politically motivated. Otepov reiterated that the case against him amounts to retaliation by local authorities for his anti-corruption activities, adding that he will appeal the verdict. Otepov also said that he will continue a hunger strike he launched two days earlier over his case.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 30, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 25, 2023
- Event Description
The chairman of Kazakhstan’s unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, has been sent to pretrial detention for two months instead of being released after serving a 20-day jail term. He was jailed for holding a picket in March to demand the release of political prisoners and to ask Western nations to impose sanctions on top Kazakh officials for "helping" Russia evade sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. A court in Astana ruled on May 25 that Zhylanbaev must stay in custody until July 23 on charges of taking part in a banned group's activities and financing an extremist organization.
The chairman of Kazakhstan’s unregistered Algha Kazakhstan (Forward Kazakhstan) party, Marat Zhylanbaev, was not released on May 23 despite serving out a 20-day jail term he was handed for holding a picket in March to demand the release of political prisoners and for Western nations to impose sanctions on top Kazakh officials for "helping" Russia evade sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Several police officers and men in civil clothes searched Zhylanbaev's home in Astana on May 23. They confiscated a memory stick, a telephone, and several T-shirts emblazoned with Algha symbols, Zhylanbaev's relatives say.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 29, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 17, 2023
- Event Description
A number of Kazakh activists who planned to hold protest rallies against the government’s plan to introduce visa-free travel for Chinese citizens coming to Kazakhstan have been jailed or fined ahead of the China-Central Asian summit in the ancient city of Xi'an.
Kazakh officials have said an agreement on visa-free visits for visiting Chinese citizens for up to 30 days will be signed during the summit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and attended by the presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan on May 19, the second day of the meeting.
Ahead of bilateral meetings held between the countries and Beijing, a court in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, sentenced Bekzatqan Maqsutuly, the leader of the unregistered Atazhurt (Fatherland) party, to 15 days in jail.
Maqsutuly's lawyer, Shynquat Baizhanov, told RFE/RL on May 18 that his client was found guilty of violating regulations for holding public gatherings. The charge was related to a previous unsanctioned public event. On May 16, Maqsutuly announced online his party's plan to organize a rally against the agreement on visa-free travel for Chinese nationals entering Kazakhstan.
A court in the northwestern city of Aqtobe sentenced activist Akhmet Sarsenghaliev to four days in jail on the same charge.
Three other activists in Aqtobe -- Almira Quatova, Ainagul Tobetova, and Bauyrzhan Maratuly -- were also convicted of violating regulations for holding public gatherings and ordered to pay fines between $380 and $535. All four activists planned to organize a rally in Aqtobe on May 18 to protest via-free travel for Chinese citizens entering Kazakhstan.
Activists in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic’s northern city of Pavlodar said on Facebook that they had faced police pressure over their plan to organize a rally against the visa-free travel agreement in the city.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 23, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 7, 2023
- Event Description
Held a protest, detained, released, detained again
Vlada Yermolcheva has been demonstrating with a poster stating “We were robbed of elections” in the central pedestrian street in Almaty on March 26, a week after the parliamentary election. She was swiftly detained that day, but later released. On May 6, police officers approached her in a cafe and demanded she follow them to a police station. On the night to May 7, she was found guilty of a violation of Article 488(7) of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Darkhan Sharipov has also been detained for a protest on November 20, 2022. On the day of the presidential election, a group of activists unfurled a banner reading “Will we live to (see) fair elections?” on the main square in Almaty. All were detained by the police in less than ten minutes and released the same day without charge. On May 7, the night court found Sharipov guilty of a violation of Article 488(6). Police and court violated the procedure
In his interview to The Village Kazakhstan Yermolcheva’s attorney, Talgat Miyermanov, pointed out numerous procedural violations. No document stating the time and date of Yermolcheva’s first detention in March has been provided in the court materials. The detention report is dated 27 March – a day after the initial detention – but includes information from 19 April. Moreover, possible penalties stated in the law include a fine, an arrest is imposed only in exceptional cases – for instance, when a person has a previous conviction. The court, however, chose the harshest punishment – arrest with the maximum term, despite the fact that Yermolcheva had no criminal record. Penalties for peaceful assembly without permission
Kazakhstan’s law “On Peaceful Assemblies” is heavily criticised by civil society for violating the right of peaceful assembly. While the Constitution grants the right to peacefully gather to all Kazakhstani citizens, and the Law states that it is sufficient to inform local authorities without obtaining explicit permission to organise a demonstration, in fact there is a very limited space where such gatherings could be held, and the organisers need to “book” them in advance by the same city council, who has the ability to veto the assembly. For the mobile demonstrations such as rallies, notification is not enough – one has to apply for a written approval of the authorities.
Read more on Novastan: Women’s Day in Kazakhstan: hundreds gather for rally in Almaty
Human rights defender Tatiana Chernobil, commented to Novastan on why the authorities acted so long after the pickets took place, says one can be held liable within one year after the peaceful assembly itself.
“This law prohibits the holding of peaceful assemblies without the so-called sanction of the Akimat (city council), – explains Chernobil. – Pickets under this law are considered to be peaceful assemblies, which means that holding them, the same as with other peaceful assemblies, without notification and, importantly, without obtaining the necessary reciprocal approval of the Akimat will be illegal.
Darkhan and Vlada held their actions without notifying the Akimat out of principle, rightfully believing that holding of solitary pickets should not require the approval of the authorities. Fair enough because these are international human rights standards. But our government and the law believe otherwise. Therefore, holding even single pickets without Akimat approval in Kazakhstan is fraught with penalties.
What is interesting is that, in general, the limitation period for administrative responsibility established by the Code of Administrative Offences is 2 months, but a special period of 1 year is established for violating the legislation on peaceful assemblies.
It is also interesting to see what other administrative offences have such a long limitation period of 1 year. These are ‘corruption offences, unlawful interference of officials into entrepreneurial activity and also for offences in the sphere of inspections of private enterprise and other forms of control and supervision with visits to private enterprise, taxation, environment protection, protection of competition, customs, legislation on pension provision, on obligatory social insurance, on energy saving and improvement of energy efficiency, on state secrets, on natural monopolies, subsoil and subsoil use.’ This is the kind of company that peaceful assemblies find themselves in,” – concludes Chernobil. Verdict upheld
On May 11, after Yermolcheva’s verdict was upheld in the court of appeal, she declared she is going on a hunger strike.
In his letter from detention center, Darkhan Sharipov sends warm greetings to his fellow activists: “You must not be ashamed for your civic position; the president and the state must be ashamed of imprisoning citizens for dissent. Until there is one person willing to fight for their rights and freedoms, I have no doubt about the future of this country.”
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 15, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 3, 2023
- Event Description
Zhanar Sekerbayeva, board member of EL*C and of Feminita Kazakhstan Feminist initiative, reports that on 3 and 5 May: “The Police and several national security agencies, NSD and MSU tried to disrupt our feminist meetings in Astana. Four people came to the first meeting and sat in the corridor (“waiting for an English lesson”) then a district police officer appeared and started searching for a “LGBT meeting”.
At the first meeting four agents of the National Security department (NSD) and a district police officer came to the building. During the second meeting, the officers of the Mobile Security Unit (MSU) entered the building (in bulletproof vests), but too late, the meeting was over and they didn’t find me. Then, the police searched the building again.”
Feminita, an organization focusing on the rights of LBQ women in Kazakhstan, has been trying to request an official registration since 2017 and they have been denied around 10 times. Feminita, an organization focusing on the rights of LBQ women in Kazakhstan, has been trying to request an official registration since 2017 and they have been denied around 10 times. In the past 2 years, despite the promises from the government for a “New and Fair Kazakhstan” promoting democracy and respecting human rights, the situation for LGBTIQ activists has not improved.
After the 2022 demonstrations, civil unrest, and the intervention of Russian forces in the country, human rights activists denounce that it has become even more difficult to protect LGBTIQ rights and their enjoyment of freedom of assembly and expression is limited. LGBTIQ civil society organisations struggle to continue existing as it is impossible for them to legally register in the country.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- NGO, NGO staff, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: feminist groups denied permission to hold a peaceful rally on Women's International Day, Kazakhstan: women's and LGBTI rights organisation intimidated ahead of planned rally
- Date added
- May 11, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 4, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim has been sentenced to 25 days in jail on a charge of violating regulations on public gatherings. Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeisov, said on May 2 that a court in the southern town of Qonaev sentenced his client overnight. Mukhammedkarim was detained on May 1. The charge stems from an online call he allegedly made to Almaty residents to hold a rally against the government's move to introduce visa-free entrance to Kazakhstan for Chinese citizens. Last month, Mukhammedkarim served 25 days in jail on a similar charge.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 7, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 4, 2023
- Event Description
A court in Almaty has sentenced Kazakh activist Alnur Ilyashev to five days in prison for violating a court-imposed ban on taking part in public gatherings. The court pronounced the sentence on May 4, three days after Ilyashev participated in a gathering of an unregistered group. In June 2020, Ilyashev was handed a parole-like sentence and banned from participating in public events for three years on a charge of distributing false materials that he rejected as politically motivated.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: pro-democracy defender arrested over false charges faces long-term imprisonment, his houses raided
- Date added
- May 7, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 21, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim was handed a 25-day jail term on March 21 after he announced his plan to hold a rally to protest the official results of parliamentary and local elections held over the weekend. Mukhammedkarim's lawyer, Ghalym Nurpeiisov, said his client was jailed on a charge of violating the laws on mass gatherings. The ruling Amanat party won a majority in the general elections on March 19. International observers said the polls showed some progress over previous votes, while several opposition politicians claimed that the balloting was unfair.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Mar 27, 2023
- Event Description
Police detained three Kazakh activists in Almaty on March 27 after they demonstrated near the Chinese consulate to demand the release of their relatives from China’s Xinjiang Province.
Activists Akikat Kaliolla, Nurzat Yermekbay, and Zauatkhan Tursyn were taken to the police department of the Medeu district, according to another activist, Baibolat Kunbolatuly, son of Tursyn. They were held at the police department for several hours and released without charge, Kunbolatuly told RFE/RL.
There was no comment from authorities, and calls by RFE/RL to the police department were not answered.
Kaliolla published a video on Facebook purporting to show the demonstrators and police officers following behind them.
One of the demonstrators, Almakhan Myrzan, held a photograph of her brother, religious researcher Baqytkhan Myrzan, who died earlier this month in custody in a penitentiary in Xinjiang.
Myrzan sharply condemned the authorities for her brother's death, which she confirmed to RFE/RL on March 9. He had been sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2018 for performing an Islamic ritual at a religious event.
She also said that authorities in Xinjiang had ignored demands by Myrzan's relatives in China and Kazakhstan to release him due to a medical condition.
Almakhan Myrzan has been among dozens of people who for more than two years have been picketing the Chinese Embassy in Astana and the consulate in Almaty to demand the release of relatives held in correctional facilities in China.
China has been accused of human rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities over the existence of mass detention camps in Xinjiang Province. The crackdown has seen Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Xinjiang's other indigenous ethnic groups sent to the camps.
Beijing denies the facilities are internment camps, saying its actions are aimed at combating terrorism, but people who have fled the province say people from the ethnic groups are undergoing "political indoctrination" at a network of facilities officially referred to as reeducation camps.
The demonstration and detentions in Almaty took place as Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev met in Astana with Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party secretary in Xinjiang.
Toqaev hailed the "eternal friendship" with Beijing as he welcomed the "deepening all-round cooperation with China," Kazakhstan's presidency said.
China is among key investors in the oil-rich country, which is home to a large Uyghur diaspora, while around 1.5 million ethnic Kazakhs live in Xinjiang.
Ma said Kazakhstan was a "priority area" of mutual cooperation.
"In general, China's cooperation with Kazakhstan is carried out through Xinjiang," Ma added.
Ma's visit to Astana, which was not widely reported, took place 10 days after the Kazakh ambassador to China, Shakhrat Nuryshev, made a trip to Xinjiang and met with Ma.
Kazakh authorities refrain from openly criticizing the policies of China, one of their main creditors. They have responded to the demands of ethnic Kazakhs for the release of their relatives by saying that what is happening in China is an internal affair of the country, and have said the applications of separated family members are considered "through diplomatic channels."
- Impact of Event
- 3
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Community-based HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 11, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, have detained dozens of oil workers from the Central Asian nation's southwestern town of Zhanaozen, who were demanding jobs after their company lost a tender in recent weeks that would have provided work.
Artur Alkhasov of the Kazakh Bureau of Human Rights and Rule of Law told RFE/RL that more than 80 former workers of the BerAli Manghystau Company were detained on April 11 after they spent a night in front of the Energy Ministry's building, demanding jobs at the OzenMunaiGaz company, a subsidiary of the oil-rich nation's KazMunaiGaz energy giant.
The workers said they lost their jobs after their company had lost a tender for oil work in the energy-rich western region of Manghystau recently.
Last week, dozens of women in Zhanaozen staged a protest demanding permanent jobs for their sons and husbands, while hundreds of former oil-industry employees gathered in front of the offices of OzenMunaiGaz demanding jobs.
Zhanaozen was the scene of mass anti-government rallies in 2011 staged by oil workers that resulted in the deaths of at least 16 people when police opened fire on unarmed protesters.
In early January last year, other protests in the volatile town over abrupt energy price hikes quickly spread across the tightly controlled former Soviet republic and led to violent clashes in the country's largest city, Almaty, and elsewhere that left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev then moved to deprive influential former President Nursultan Nazarbaev of his lifetime post atop the Kazakh Security Council, taking the post himself.
The crisis prompted Toqaev to seek help from troops from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to quell the unrest.
Toqaev's moves since then appear aimed at weakening Nazarbaev, his relatives and close allies.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Labour rights defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 27, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh artist Dauren Makin has been sentenced to seven years in prison on a charge of propagating terrorism that he and his supporters say is politically motivated. A court in Astana pronounced the sentence on April 27. Makin, who pleaded not guilty, said he will appeal the sentence. The details of the charge remain unknown as the trial was held behind closed doors. Makin's lawyer, Zhasulan Komekov, said earlier that the charge against Makin stemmed from his statements about January 2022 antigovernment protests that turned into deadly mass disorder. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, click here.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Artist
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- May 1, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Almaty on May 1 detained about a dozen people at an opposition rally called by fugitive Kazakh oligarch and opposition politician leader Mukhtar Ablyazov.
About 20 people gathered near the Central Park of Culture and Recreation for the afternoon rally before police began making arrests without explanation.
Some demonstrators held signs reading: “There is no road for China on Kazakh land,” while others demanded a fair investigation into unprecedented anti-government protests in the Central Asian nation in January 2022 that began over a sudden fuel price hike and grew into broader unrest against corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice. Violent clashes during the demonstrations left at least 238 people dead, including 19 law enforcement officers.
Ablyazov, an outspoken critic of the Kazakh government who received political asylum in France several years ago, is wanted in Kazakhstan and Russia on suspicion of embezzling some $5 billion. Ablyazov rejects the charge as politically motivated.
The fugitive tycoon established the opposition movement Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) and regularly uses the Internet to organize unsanctioned anti-government rallies across Kazakhstan. DVK was labelled as extremist and banned in Kazakhstan in March 2018.
Demonstrations were held on May 1 in other cities in Kazakhstan after civil activists announced peaceful rallies in support of Ukraine and Kazakhstan's withdrawal from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in which Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are also members.
Applications filed by some activists for peaceful assemblies on May 1 were refused by authorities citing other events and incomplete information on applications for rallies.
One human rights group reported police surveillance of civil activists in different Kazakh cities, and some activists reportedly were detained or summoned to the police department.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 21, 2023
- Event Description
On 21 April 2023, the Specialised Inter-district Administrative Court of Almaty ruled in support of the prohibition of the International Women’s Day March in 2024 by the Akimat (local government) of the city of Almaty, making this the third consecutive year that the march has been refused. 8MarchKZ is a grassroots feminist human rights initiative in Almaty, Kazakhstan that unites for the purpose of organising the annual feminist and women’s march in Almaty on 8 March. The organising committee of the initiative includes a diverse group of women human rights defenders, who work to promote and protect women and LGBTQI+ rights. The first Women’s March in Almaty took place in 2017. On 20 March 2023, the 8MarchKZ initiative submitted a notification to the Akimat about holding a Women’s March on 8 March 2024, with the thematic focus of the March being “for the rights of the women of Kazakhstan” which was refused by the Akimat of Almaty. During a court hearing on 12 April 2023, the Akim (local governor) of Almaty, Erbolat Dosayev, justified the decision to disallow the march by stating that it is a threat to public security. The Akim of Almaty argued that the Akimat received letters of concern from an unidentified representative of a group called On Legalisation of Foreign Vehicles and from a concerned citizen of the Turkestan region of Kazakhstan, who called to ban the “feminist movement from organising peaceful protests in the city of Almaty.” Eventually, on 21 April 2023, the Specialised Inter-district Administrative Court of Almaty ruled in support of the prohibition of the Women’s March in 2024 by the Akimat of the city of Almaty. The local governing bodies of Almaty have a history of refusing women human rights defenders to march on International Women’s Day. In 2022, the Akimat of Almaty refused to approve a Women’s March due to alleged road works along the route. Women human rights defenders from 8MarchKZ however, reported that no road works were actually happening on 8 March. In 2023, the Akimat of Almaty once again refused to approve the march, citing that the route and the time-slot suggested were already booked by another civil society actor. Women human rights defenders who organise the Women’s March on 8 March have also been targeted for their human rights work. In 2019, some organisers, who submittted individual requests to the Akimat for the march to take place, received threats of expulsion from their educational institutions unless they retracted their requests. In 2020, two of the march organisers, woman human rights defenders Fariza Ozpan and Arina Osinovskaya were fined for the symbolic burning of a flower wreath in commemoration of the vicitms of gender-based violence. Arina Osinovskaya was fined for 66,000 KZT (approximately EUR 119) and Farisa Ospan for 13,000 KZT (approximately EUR 26). Front Line Defenders condemns the Akimat of Almaty’s refusal to approve the 2024 Women’s March, as well as their denial of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly to feminist and women’s rights defenders. Front Line Defenders calls upon the authorities of Kazakhstan to ensure that 8MarchKZ feminist initiative can exercise their rights to protect and promote women’s rights, feminist agendas, and to peacefully assemble and march for the cause of the International Women’s Day.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Administrative Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression Offline, Women's rights
- HRD
- NGO, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Apr 12, 2023
- Event Description
On 12 April 2023, human rights defender and journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov was detained and sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention. Law enforcement officers stopped Lukpan Akhmedyarov’s car on the road, and informed him that he was being detained for violating the rules on public protest, an administrative offence envisioned by Article 488, part 7, of the Civic Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On the same day he was sentenced to 15 days administrative detention. Lukpan Akhmedyarov is a Kazakh human rights defender, journalist and former editor-in-chief of the newspaper Uralskaya Nedelya (Uralsk Week). Currently he works on his own YouTube project “Just Journalism,” where he covers human rights violations in Kazakhstan. The human rights defender has conducted several civil campaigns in defence of fundamental rights and freedoms. The authorities have repeatedly subjected Lukpan Akhmedyarov to unlawful arrests and detentions for his human rights work. In 2012, he received the Peter Mackler Award by the international human rights organisation Reporters Without Borders for his civil courage and protection of the principles of independent journalism. On 12 April 2023, on his personal Instagram account, Lukpan Akhmedyarov broadcasted a live video, which showed at least two local law enforcement representatives, accompanied by at least three representatives of Security Service Personnel of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Their faces were covered with black masks as theyapproached his car trying to force the human rights defender out. In the video Lukpan Akhmedyarov stated that he also noticed security service personnel in front of his house in Uralsk. The law enforcement officers then stated that on 9 April 2023, Lukpan Akhmedyarov participated in a protest that was not sanctioned by the authorities, where he called out restrictions on freedom of speech. The authorities cited his participation in this protest as the reason for his detention, stating that the human rights defender violated Article 488, part 7 of the Civic Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as he “organised and (or) held a meeting, rally, demonstration, march, picket or other public events held in violation of the procedure established by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the procedure for organising and holding peaceful assemblies, if these actions do not have signs of a criminally punishable act.” Lupan Alhmedyarov has stated that his detention and arrest were related to his publicly announced intention to visit Zhanaozen and report on the situation in the city, where oil workers are protesting their labor conditions and the recent detention of their colleagues in Astana. The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan has been trying to silence the coverage of the protests by oil workers in Zhanaozen and in Astana; some journalists covering the protests in Astana were detained, and there are reports of internet shutdowns in Zhanaozen. Front Line Defenders condemns the judicial harrasment of human rights defender and journalist Lukpan Akhmedyarov for his legitimate and peaceful human rights work. Front Line Defenders expresses serious concerns about a pattern of targetting human rights journalists with arrests and detentions in order to prevent them from covering human rights violations. Systemic attacks against independent human rights journalists negatively impact the development of civil society in Kazakhstan.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Media Worker, Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- May 1, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 22, 2023
- Event Description
A journalist has been assaulted in Kazakhstan amid a series of attacks against independent reporters as early parliamentary elections in the oil-rich Central Asian nation draw near.
Daniyar Moldabekov says he was attacked in the morning on February 22 in the corridor of his apartment building by a masked man in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty.
Moldabekov told RFE/RL that he was returning home from a coffee shop when a man wearing a medical mask hit him in the jaw with a single blow that dazed him.
"He hit me and shouted 'Hey, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong!' and quickly left the premises," Moldabekov said, adding that the attack was most likely linked to his latest investigative reports about alleged corruption in the city.
"I will not stop. I will continue working as a journalist. That is for sure. And I will write about anyone I want to," Moldabekov said. He did not say which of his reports could be behind the attack.
The Almaty city police department told RFE/RL that the attack is under investigation.
Attacks against journalists in the tightly controlled former Soviet republic have been on the rise since early January as the country gets ready for early parliamentary elections scheduled for March 19.
On February 20, another Almaty-based journalist and vlogger Vadim Boreiko said that two cars belonging to his cameraman, Roman Yegorov, were burned in an arson attack.
Boreiko and Yegorov said the attack was linked to their professional activities.
In early February, the chief editor of the Ulysmedia.kz news website in Almaty, Samal Ibraeva, received a box from unknown people that contained a hunk of meat and pictures of her children. She described the package as a fresh attempt "to intimidate" her and her staff.
Several other attacks were registered in Kazakhstan last month.
International human rights watchdogs and the embassies of several Western nations have urged Kazakh authorities to investigate the attacks.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 27, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 6, 2023
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, have launched a probe into an alleged attack against the son of noted journalist Dinara Egeubaeva by an unknown person armed with a pistol.
The Almaty city police department said on February 6 that it had registered Egeubaeva's complaint and started an investigation into it.
Egeubaeva said a day earlier that her son was approached by a man with a pistol in his hand late in the evening and managed to escape an attack by fleeing and then hiding in a residential building.
Egeubaeva insists that the attack was linked to her professional activities.
Last month, unknown attackers broke a window of Egeubaeva's car before setting the vehicle on fire. Egeubaeva linked that attack with her professional activities as well.
Police said later that they apprehended a group of teenagers suspected of the arson attack, but it remains unclear who ordered the assault.
The Almaty-based Adil Soz (A Just Word) group, which monitors journalists' rights, said last month that at least five journalists have been attacked in Kazakhstan since January 1.
Egeubaeva has been writing and reporting about the first anniversary of the violent dispersal of anti-government protests that turned into mass disorder and left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
She has also announced her decision to take part in early parliamentary elections scheduled for March 19.
Last month, the New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the embassies of several Western countries urged the Kazakh authorities to investigate the attacks on journalists.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Family of HRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Feb 12, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Feb 8, 2023
- Event Description
The chief editor of the Ulysmedia.kz news website in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, says she received a box from unknown people that contained a hunk of meat and pictures of her children, a parcel she called a new attempt "to intimidate" her and her staff.
Samal Ibraeva told RFE/RL that the box was delivered to the website's office on February 8. She linked the box's delivery to the professional activities of her team, which she said has been the target of other intimidation attempts.
On January 18, Ulysmedia.kz had to suspend its operations following a hacking attack. Ibraeva said at the time that the attack was most likely linked to the website's work, adding that it had faced several previous similar attacks.
The incident comes at a time when the independent press in Kazakhstan is coming under pressure.
The Almaty-based Adil Soz (A Just Word) group, which monitors journalists' rights, said earlier that there have been at least five attacks against journalists in the Central Asian nation since January 1.
The subjects of the attacks, including Ulysmedia.kz, have been writing and reporting about Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the first anniversary of the violent dispersal of anti-government protests in Kazakhstan that turned into mass unrest that left at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
On January 20, presidential spokesman Ruslan Zheldibai said President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, who has initiated a series of changes since last year's deadly protests aimed at creating what he calls a "new Kazakhstan," has ordered law enforcement to investigate each attack against journalists.
Ibraeva said to RFE/RL on February 8 that, despite the presidential order to investigate the attacks, it remains unclear who is behind the assaults.
International human rights watchdogs and the embassies of several Western nations have urged Kazakh authorities to investigate the attacks.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Death threat, Intimidation and Threats
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to healthy and safe environment
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: multiple attacks on independent media
- Date added
- Feb 12, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jan 26, 2023
- Event Description
As Kazakhstan gears up for parliamentary elections this spring, the Almaty City Prosecutor’s office on January 26 charged the opposition leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, Zhanbolat Mamay, with “organizing mass riots,” for his alleged role in the January 2022 protests in Almaty. The charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.
Oddly, this “new” charge comes just two months after the prosecutor’s office dropped an identical charge, reclassifying his alleged actions as “violating the procedure for organizing and holding peaceful assemblies.” Mamay was placed under house arrest after spending just over eight months in pretrial detention. Mamay also faces lesser charges of “insulting law enforcement officers” and “disseminating false information.” His trial on those began November 7, 2022 and is set to resume on February 6. Mamay remains under house arrest. Kazakhstan does not allow any genuinely independent opposition parties; Mamay’s party has not been able to register.
The new 59-page indictment asserts that Mamay decided to “organize mass riots, accompanied by violence, pogroms, arson, destruction, property damage, the use of firearms, as well as armed resistance to the authorities.” At least 238 people died in the January 2022 events in Kazakhstan, most of them in Almaty. The authorities have failed to ensure accountability for the hundreds who died or who alleged ill-treatment and torture following the violence.
What is lacking in the indictment is any evidence that Mamay committed the alleged crime.
The prosecutor argues that in order to organize mass riots, Mamay uploaded videos to Facebook calling on Almaty residents to join the peaceful protest on January 4, that he misinformed the crowd by saying tens of thousands of people had gathered in the city of Zhanaozen, and that he acted on people’s heightened emotions to call for a fair government, a fair election, political reform, the dissolution of Parliament, and registration of political parties in Kazakhstan.
Expert analyses commissioned by the prosecution concluded that Mamay “promoted destructive attitudes of civil and political behavior” and “contributed to the growth of protest activism on January 3-4, 2022.”
However, the indictment does not say Mamay carried out any violent acts or called for violence because there is no evidence he did.
Calling for political reforms is not a crime, but locking Mamay away for 10 years most certainly would be.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to political participation
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: pro-democracy defender faces additional charges (Update), Kazakhstan: pro-democracy leader detention extended
- Date added
- Feb 5, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Jan 12, 2023
- Event Description
Kazakh authorities should thoroughly investigate a recent spate of attacks on independent journalists, hold all those responsible to account, and ensure that members of the press are able to work safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
Since January 12, journalists throughout Kazakhstan have seen their cars set on fire, apartments attacked, and offices vandalized, according to media reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. Police have detained five suspects in relation to two of those incidents.
“While Kazakh police should be applauded for their swift work in apprehending suspects in two recent attacks on journalists, authorities must ensure that all the recent instances of harassment against the press are thoroughly investigated and that those who ordered them are held to account,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities’ rhetoric about a ‘new Kazakhstan’ will remain empty words unless they are able to ensure journalists’ safety.”
On January 12, attackers smashed the glass entrance to an office building that houses the independent outlet Elmedia in the southern city of Almaty, according to media reports and posts on Facebook by Elmedia editor-in-chief Gulzhan Yergalieva, which said that it was the sixth such attack on the outlet’s office since October.
Elmedia covers politics on its YouTube channel, where it has about 100,000 subscribers.
Since August, people have also filed false reports to police about bombs in Elmedia’s office and Yergalieva’s home and car, sent the journalist a funeral wreath, and placed her phone number and photo on websites advertising sexual services.
In messages sent to Elmedia’s Telegram account and posted by Yergalieva on Facebook, individuals who claimed to have carried out the attacks threatened “maybe the next brick will be to your forehead,” and told the outlet to “put a muzzle on” Yergalieva, “otherwise we will shut her up.”
Separately, on the night of January 13, a vehicle belonging to independent journalist Dinara Yegeubayeva was set on fire in Almaty, according to news reports and a post by the journalist on Instagram.
Yegeubayeva, who is also a political activist, said in an interview with independent journalist Vadim Boreiko that she believes the attack was related to her journalistic posts on Instagram and YouTube, where she has a combined 94,000 subscribers and has covered allegations of rights abuses by authorities during 2022 mass protests in Kazakhstan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Police have arrested five suspects aged between 15 and 17 who confessed to carrying out the arson attack on Yegeubayeva’s car and the most recent attacks on Elmedia, saying they were paid to commit them by unidentified individuals who contacted them on the internet, news reports said.
Separately, on January 16, unidentified individuals injected construction foam around the apartment door of Gulnara Bazhkenova, chief editor of the independent news website Orda, in Almaty, for the third time since September, the journalist told CPJ by phone and wrote on Facebook. Bazhkenova said unidentified people also mailed her a tombstone featuring her image and the date “2023” in December, and that her outlet’s website has faced consistent distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since July 2022.
Also, on January 18, hackers infiltrated the website of the independent news website Ulysmedia, based in the capital city of Astana, and placed the personal data of chief editor Samal Ibrayeva and her children online, according to news reports and a statement by the journalist posted on Telegram.
Following the doxxing, unidentified users flooded Ulysmedia’s social media accounts with an identical message, saying: “This is just the start of your new life full of pain and sorrow. We know about everything that you hold dear.”
Ibrayeva told CPJ by messaging app that Ulysmedia’s website and social media accounts have repeatedly been targeted by DDoS and spam attacks since July 2022.
Separately, in the early hours of January 19, unidentified attackers injected construction foam around the door of journalist Vadim Boreiko’s apartment in Almaty and wrote graffiti featuring a lewd image and the name of Boreiko’s YouTube channel, according to news reports and a Facebook post by the journalist.
On his YouTube channel Giperborei, which has about 250,000 subscribers, Boreiko has covered topics including the war in Ukraine and the 2022 protests, which he told CPJ by messaging app were “the most undesirable topics for Kazakh authorities.”
Ibrayeva and Boreyko told CPJ that they had not received any information about the suspects in their cases.
Bazhkenova told CPJ police arrested two young people in November who admitted to some of the previous harassment of Orda and Elmedia, and who told police they had also been paid by unidentified individuals who contacted them online.
On January 20, a spokesperson for Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev wrote on Facebook that the president had ordered a “thorough investigation” into the attacks on journalists, saying that “not only the perpetrators, but also those who ordered these illegal acts” must be identified.
CPJ emailed the Kazakhstan Ministries of Internal Affairs and Information for comment, but did not receive any replies.
- Impact of Event
- 5
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Online Attack and Harassment, Raid
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property, Right to work
- HRD
- Media Worker, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Non-state, Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: independent media outlet attacked, Kazakhstan: independent media outlet target of new attack (Update)
- Date added
- Jan 27, 2023
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 16, 2022
- Event Description
More than a dozen activists of the opposition movement Oyan, Qazaqstan! (Wake Up, Kazakhstan!) have been detained in the country’s largest city, Almaty, as the Central Asian nation marks the 31st anniversary of its independence.
RFE/RL's correspondents in Almaty say that Bota Sharipzhan, Mira Ongharova, Fariza Ospan, Naghashybek Bekdaiyr, Aidana Aidarkhan, Beibarys Tolymbekov, Bauyrzhan Adilkhanov, and Asem Zhapisheva are among those who were detained on December 16.
Many of the activists were detained while they were making their way to the Independence Monument in the city center to commemorate the anniversaries of two violent crackdowns on protests that coincide with Kazakhstan's Independence Day.
One is the 1986 anti-Kremlin youth demonstrations, known as Zheltoqsan, in Almaty that erupted after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev replaced Kazakhstan's long-term ruler, Dinmukhammed Konaev, with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian sent by Moscow to head the then-Soviet republic.
Demonstrations against the appointment were put down by a violent crackdown by Soviet authorities. Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed by security forces, although officially only several people were said to have lost their lives during the demonstrations that lasted for three days.
Also, 11 years ago police opened fire at protesting oil workers in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen, killing at least 16 people and one person in the nearby town of Shetpe.
Several opposition activists across the Central Asian nation were detained before December 16 on charges related to their previous participation in unsanctioned rallies.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 30, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 20, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh rights activist Sanavar Zakirova has been sentenced to 10 days in jail on a charge of "disobeying police." Zakirova was detained along with several other women on December 20 after they demonstrated in Astana demanding that President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev meet with them over social problems faced in the country. It is not known if the other detained women faced trials as well. Zakirova has been sentenced to several jail terms in recent years and has been prevented from registering her Nashe Pravo (Our Right) political party.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary, Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Related Events
- Kazakhstan: detained WHRD placed in solitary confinement
- Date added
- Dec 30, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 18, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh authorities should release investigative journalist Mikhail Kozachkov immediately and ensure that members of the press are not prosecuted in retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.
On Sunday, December 18, officers from Kazakhstan’s Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) in the southern city of Almaty arrested Kozachkov, who covers alleged corruption and abuses by government officials and prominent business figures for independent news website Vremya and his Telegram channel, according to news reports and a report by local free speech organization Adil Soz.
In a statement on its Telegram channel, FMA accused Kozachkov of helping a criminal group carry out illegal hostile takeovers of local businesses by publishing information discrediting the takeovers’ victims. The statement added that the journalist was under investigation for spreading state secrets.
CPJ was not able to obtain contact information for the journalist’s lawyer, but Adil Soz told CPJ that the journalist, via his lawyer, denied the accusations. A news report, citing a Facebook post that Adil Soz confirmed as authentic, said the journalist denied the accusations, calling them retaliation for articles he wrote about FMA and its head.
An open letter to Kazakhstan President Qasym-Zhomart Toqayev published by Adil Soz and signed by dozens of prominent Kazakh journalists, media outlets, and free speech organizations said there were numerous indications that Kozachkov’s arrest was a “political order, linked to his journalistic investigations.”
“The arrest of Mikhail Kozachkov, a well-known anticorruption journalist who frequently published allegations against state officials, law enforcement agencies, and wealthy businessmen, is concerning, especially given reports of procedural and rights violations against him by the investigating body,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kazakh authorities should reveal the nature of the charges or release Kozachkov pending a transparent and impartial investigation of his case and ensure that his legal rights are fully upheld.”
In its statement, FMA accused Kozachkov and an acquaintance of the journalist of receiving 52 million tenge (US$111,200) from the criminal group to obtain and publish information discrediting several of its victims. FMA said the group was run by a man identified by Kazakh media as an assistant of the brother of former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
FMA officers searched Kozachkov’s home following his arrest, those reports said, and the journalist’s lawyer told local news outlet Nege.kz that Kozachkov was placed in 48-hour detention, and that a court would decide on further custody measures.
Officers conducted the search without a lawyer present, detained the journalist for “several hours” without the chance to communicate with his lawyer, and did not allow the journalist to talk privately with his lawyer, Adil Soz reported.
In articles for Vremya and on his Telegram channel, Kozachkov offside, which has around 91,000 subscribers, Kozachkov regularly reported allegations of corruption against government and law enforcement agencies and had recently covered alleged abuses by FMA, according to a Vremya statement and a CPJ review of the journalist’s reporting. The FMA statement claimed Kozachkov published articles critical of FMA after learning that it was investigating Kozachkov’s associates.
In its statement, Vremya said it stood by Kozachkov’s reporting, saying he always verified information and that the outlet “scrupulously” checked his articles and consulted legal advisors before publication.
Kozachkov had recently received threats against him and his family, been subjected to online slander, and complained of surveillance, the open letter and Vremya statement said.
CPJ emailed FMA for comment but did not receive a reply. In response to the open letter, President Toqayev’s spokesperson, Ruslan Zheldibay, said Kozachkov’s legal rights must be “fully observed” and called on the prosecutor general’s office to ensure that any investigation into him was legal.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Online, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 30, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Dec 14, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh activist Marat Abiev has been placed in pretrial detention for two months after serving a 15-day jail term for organizing an unsanctioned protest rally on November 26, the day of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's inauguration. The Astana City Court on December 14 did not specify what charges Abiev faced. Toqaev was reelected in an election held on November 20. A monitoring mission by the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said after the election that the election lacked "competitiveness."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 16, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 26, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh activist Marat Abiev has been handed a 15-day jail term for organizing an unsanctioned protest rally on November 26, the day of President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's inauguration. A court in Astana sentenced Abiev on November 28 after finding him guilty of "violating the law on holding public events." Toqaev was reelected in the early election held on November 20. A monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights said after the election that the election lacked "competitiveness."
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Dec 5, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 23, 2022
- Event Description
Unknown assailants have broken a window at the offices of the Elmedia television channel in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty. The attack came weeks after a similar attack shattered the office's glass doors and a large inscription was left in red on the sidewalk in front of the office in what employees believe was a warning to independent media. Elmedia said on Telegram on November 23 that the office's doors were also broken in the overnight attack. Intimidation and attacks on independent media outlets in the country have been frequent for years.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- Intimidation and Threats, Violence (physical)
- Rights Concerned
- Media freedom, Freedom of expression Online, Right to healthy and safe environment, Right to property
- HRD
- Media Worker
- Perpetrator-State
- Unknown
- Perpetrator-Non-State
- Unknown
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 28, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 17, 2022
- Event Description
Authorities in Kazakhstan have detained seven people suspected of planning to organize "riots" during this weekend's presidential election, the security service said on November 17.
"The National Security Committee, with the assistance of prosecutors, suppressed the activities of a criminal group involved in planning and organizing mass riots on November 20 of this year," the security services said in a statement.
The statement said the group was not only organizing large-scale riots but also planning to attack administrative buildings and law enforcement offices using arms and projectiles. Weapons confiscated include Kalashnikov assault rifles, sawn-off shotguns, ammunition, and materials for Molotov cocktails as well as walkie-talkies, it said.
The former Soviet republic on November 20 is set to hold a snap presidential election expected to cement incumbent President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's grip on power months after nationwide protests against fuel prices turned violent and left more than 200 dead.
The unrest occurred in January after a peaceful demonstration in the western region of Manghystau over a fuel price hike tapped into deep-seated resentment of the country's leadership, leading to widespread antigovernment protests.
Thousands of people were detained by officials during and after the protests, which Toqaev said were caused by "20,000 terrorists" from abroad, a claim for which authorities have provided no evidence.
Human rights groups have provided evidence that peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests were among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
Kazakh authorities in recent weeks have detained or sentenced opposition activists on various charges related to activities linked to the upcoming election.
- Impact of Event
- 7
- Gender of HRD
- Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community)
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 15, 2022
- Event Description
Several opposition and rights activists have been detained across Kazakhstan as the day of an early presidential election scheduled for November 20 nears.
Police in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen on November 15 detained noted opposition activist Estai Qarashaev, who was sentenced to six days in jail several hours later on a charge of violating regulations for holding public gatherings.
Qarashaev was among oil workers who protested in 2011 to demand higher wages. Police brutally dispersed the protests, killing at least 16 people.
In the country's largest city, Almaty, on November 15, police detained Aset Abishev, a member of the founding committee of the Algha Qazaqstan (Forward, Kazakhstan) party that has been trying unsuccessfully for eight months to get registered for the election.
It is not clear why Abishev was detained. Last week, five other members of the unregistered party were detained for taking part in an unsanctioned rally in August.
- Impact of Event
- 2
- Gender of HRD
- Man
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Judicial Harassment
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Nov 18, 2022
- Event Description
Kazakh authorities have warned citizens of the Central Asian nation against holding rallies on November 20 when voting will take place in an early presidential election.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement on November 18 that "a banned group has been calling for illegal rallies and other illegal activities" on the day of the vote, adding that "those who follow such calls will face legal prosecution."
The statement did not mention the group, but a day earlier, the Committee of National Security said it detained seven people suspected of planning "riots" during the presidential election, following online calls for action by exiled former banker Mukhtar Ablyazov, his Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), and the Koshe (Street) Party, which are banned in the country as extremist.
In recent days, Ablyazov has called on Kazakh citizens to hold mass protests on November 20 saying the vote is illegal as no real opposition candidates were allowed to take part in the contest against President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev in the tightly controlled country.
Meanwhile Kazakh authorities have detained dozens of opposition and human rights activists in efforts to ward off the possibility of such demonstrations.
On November 18, a court in Almaty sentenced opposition activist Aigerim Tileuzhan to two months of house arrest for her role in unprecedented anti-government protests in January that were violently dispersed by police, leaving at least 238 people, including 19 law enforcement officers, dead.
Toqaev faces five opponents whom he is expected to easily beat in the November 20 snap leadership vote where a newly introduced seven-year term is up for grabs.
While he appears to be taking the election challengers lightly -- as evidenced by the fact that he sent a representative to the only televised debate among candidates last week -- opposition activists have been piling on pressure for an explanation of his decision to invite troops from the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) to quell the January unrest, as well as his public "shoot to kill without warning" order.
The unrest occurred after a peaceful demonstration in the western region of Manghystau on January 2 over a fuel price hike tapped into deep-seated resentment of the country's leadership, leading to widespread anti-government protests.
Thousands of people were detained by officials during and after the protests, which Toqaev said were caused by "20,000 terrorists" from abroad, a claim for which authorities have provided no evidence.
Human rights groups have provided evidence that peaceful demonstrators and people who had nothing to do with the protests were among those killed by law enforcement and military personnel.
- Impact of Event
- 1
- Gender of HRD
- Woman
- Violation
- Judicial Harassment, Restrictions on Movement
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of movement, Freedom of expression Offline
- HRD
- Community-based HRD, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Judiciary
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Nov 20, 2022
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Initial Date
- Oct 25, 2022
- Event Description
Police in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, have detained opposition activists who planned to hold a rally to challenge next month's early presidential election.
Bibigul Imanghalieva, a member of the unregistered Algha, Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan, Forward) party, told RFE/RL by phone that she and several of her colleagues were detained for several hours early in the morning in different parts of the city before they could hold the demonstration, which was to fall on October 25, Republic Day, which commemorates Kazakhstan's declaration of state sovereignty in 1990.
According to Imanghalieva, leading activists, Aset Abishev, Aidar Syzdyqov, and Qanatkhan Amrenov, were among those detained. She added that she and other activists were released three hours later.
Imanghalieva says she and other members of the unregistered party had officially filed a request with the Almaty city administration last week asking for permission to hold a rally on October 25.
Other activists told RFE/RL that the chairwoman of an independent group of election observers, Arailym Nazarova, was also detained by police. Her mobile phone has been switched off since the morning of October 25.
In the capital, Astana, police cordoned off a square near Zhengis (Victory) Avenue where activists had planned to gather, not allowing anyone to enter the site. At least two activists were detained there.
Opposition activist Amangeldy Zhakhin said on Facebook on October 25 that police did not allow him to leave the village of Shortandy on October 25 as they tried to prevent his trip to Astana, the capital, where he planned to organize a rally to question the election, scheduled for November 20, at which incumbent President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev will face off against five relatively unknown candidates.
Activists in the cities of Aqsai, Pavlodar, and Oskemen also said they were blocked from travelling to Astana to take part in a rally.
Toqaev, who has tried to position himself as a reformer, called the early presidential election on September 1 while also proposing to change the presidential term to seven years from five years. Under the new system, future presidents will be barred from seeking more than one term.
Critics say Toqaev's initiatives have been mainly cosmetic and do not change the nature of the autocratic system in a country that has been plagued for years by rampant corruption and nepotism.
Toqaev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who had run the tightly controlled former Soviet republic with an iron fist for almost three decades, chose Toqaev as his successor when he stepped down in 2019.
Though he was no longer president, Nazarbaev retained sweeping powers as the head of the Security Council. He also enjoyed substantial powers by holding the title of “elbasy” or leader of the nation.
Many citizens, however, remained upset by the oppression felt during Nazarbaev's reign.
Those feelings came to a head in January when unprecedented anti-government nationwide protests started over a fuel price hike, and then exploded into countrywide deadly unrest over perceived corruption under the Nazarbaev regime and the cronyism that allowed his family and close friends to enrich themselves while ordinary citizens failed to share in the oil-rich Central Asian nation's wealth.
Toqaev subsequently stripped Nazarbaev of his Security Council role, taking it over himself. Since then, several of Nazarbaev’s relatives and allies have been pushed out of their positions or resigned. Some have been arrested on corruption charges.
In June, a Toqaev-initiated referendum removed Nazarbaev's name from the constitution and annulled his status as “elbasy.”
- Impact of Event
- 6
- Gender of HRD
- Man, Other (e.g. undefined, organisation, community), Woman
- Violation
- (Arbitrary) Arrest and Detention, Restrictions on Movement, Surveillance
- Rights Concerned
- Freedom of assembly, Freedom of expression Offline, Right to liberty and security, Right to Protest
- HRD
- Pro-democracy defender, WHRD
- Perpetrator-State
- Police
- Source
- Monitoring Status
- Pending
- Date added
- Oct 30, 2022