Her Excellency Kaja Kallas
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Vice-President of the European Commission
European External Action Service
28 February 2025
Subject: Urgent concerns regarding human rights violations in Kazakhstan ahead of EU-Central Asia engagement
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Your Excellency,
On behalf of the human rights monitoring group #ActivistsNotExtremists, we are writing to express our deep concern regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Kazakhstan ahead of your scheduled meeting with Central Asian foreign ministers in Uzbekistan on 4 March and the upcoming EU-Central Asia Summit.
The year 2024 and January 2025 have been record-breaking for Kazakhstan in terms of human rights violations and fundamental freedoms abuses. Despite Kazakhstan’s stated commitments to reform, our monitoring reveals that political rights and freedoms remain mere declarations rather than protected realities.
We urge you to raise the following critical issues in your upcoming engagements:
1. Political Prisoners and Systemic Repression
Currently, there are at least 48 political prisoners in Kazakhstan: 40 individuals have been convicted in politically motivated criminal cases and are serving prison sentences, while 8 others are being held in pre-trial detention facilities awaiting potential sentencing. People are imprisoned for participating in peaceful rallies, supporting opposition movements, disseminating information on human rights violations, and even collecting donations for political prisoners.
The case of the opposition party Alga Kazakhstan is particularly alarming, with the Ministry of Justice officially refusing registration 25 times, while six of the party’s leaders – Marat Zhylanbayev, Askar Sembay, Asylbek Zhamuratov, Aidar Syzdykov, and Asanali Suyubayev – have been sentenced to 5-10 years in prison on political grounds.
2. Transnational Repression Against Critics
Kazakhstan is increasingly engaged in transnational repression against critics and human rights defenders abroad:
- In a deeply concerning development, Kazakhstan’s special services orchestrated the murder of prominent journalist and political refugee Aidos Sadykov in Ukraine, who had criticized the government and exposed Kazakhstan’s cooperation with Russia to circumvent international sanctions.
- The Kazakhstani authorities have conducted surveillance operations across Europe, as evidenced by the case of attorney and human rights defender Bota Jardemalie, who along with her family was subjected to unlawful surveillance in Belgium since 2017. This surveillance was conducted at Kazakhstan’s request by a private British company, resulting in criminal proceedings in Belgium. In February 2025, the Brussels Criminal Court of First Instance sentenced a former British marine to six months imprisonment for harassment and espionage.
- The Open Dialogue Foundation has faced ongoing transnational repression due to their work exposing torture cases and documenting Kazakhstan’s role in helping Russia evade international sanctions. In 2022, a collective criminal complaint was filed in Belgium on behalf of several Kazakh police officers against Lyudmyla Kozlovska and the Foundation, demanding removal of information about their involvement in political repression. In September 2024, Kyrgyz bank Bakai Bank filed a SLAPP lawsuit against the Foundation in a Belgian court, demanding removal of information indicating the bank’s involvement in facilitating sanctions evasion. These legal actions represent a clear pattern of transnational repression designed to silence human rights defenders and prevent the dissemination of critical information.
- The government has employed “coercion-by-proxy,” targeting relatives of critics abroad, as seen in the case of Barlyk Mendygaziyev, a businessman and human rights activist. The Kazakhstani authorities have persecuted him for years in connection with his activities protecting human rights and providing material assistance to victims of political repression. As Mendygaziyev lives in the United States, the authorities have imprisoned his brother Bekizhan since 2021 on fabricated charges (recognized as a political prisoner and political hostage) as well as his colleagues Natalia Dauletiarova and Rinat Batkayev. His company Karachaganak Support Services (KSS) was seized in a raider attack involving Chevron Corporation, and in 2024, authorities reopened a criminal case against him based on false testimony. On February 5, 2025, PACE deputies condemned these actions and called for an investigation, including into Chevron’s role in the seizure of Mendygaziyev’s business.
- Kazakhstan extensively exploits “injustice laundering” – using its controlled judicial system to fabricate trials that are then transferred to Western judicial bodies through Mutual Legal Assistance requests or abusive civil and criminal complaints. A particularly urgent case involves opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov in France, who has faced multiple assassination attempts since 2014. In June 2020, Ablyazov filed a complaint with the Paris Judicial Court regarding “preparatory acts of kidnapping” after being under 24-hour surveillance by unknown persons. Despite French courts acknowledging the direct danger, he was not granted police protection nor notified of any investigation into the reported facts – a grave dereliction of duty by French authorities that puts his life at imminent risk. Similar politically motivated cases have targeted his nephew Askar Amangeldiyev in Latvia and lawyer Bota Jardemalie in Belgium.
3. Systematic Suppression of Peaceful Assembly and Free Expression
In 2024 alone, the Kazakhstani authorities issued 108 refusals to hold peaceful protests, marches, and single-person pickets across 22 cities and localities. Since 2020, a total of 686 refusals to permit peaceful assemblies have been documented. Of particular note, there have been 46 refusals specifically targeting assemblies against the construction of nuclear power plants by Russia in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan has fallen eight positions in the World Press Freedom Index prepared by Reporters Without Borders, now ranking 142nd out of 179 countries. Journalists and bloggers face severe consequences for peaceful criticism on social media:
- Journalist Daniyar Adilbekov was sentenced to 4.5 years for peaceful criticism of authorities on social networks.
- Journalist Duman Mukhametkarim was sentenced to seven years in prison for conducting an interview with opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov.
- Blogger Temirlan Ensebek faced prosecution for satirical statements about the authorities on social networks.
4. Systematic Torture and Impunity
Torture remains a systemic phenomenon in Kazakhstan, with impunity for perpetrators. We draw your urgent attention to the case of activist Timur Danebayev, who was subjected to brutal torture by prison officers – an act that was recorded on video and made public. Despite this irrefutable evidence, the court recently acquitted all officers involved. We note with deep concern that previous EU delegations failed to raise Danebayev’s case in their engagements with Kazakhstani authorities, which may have contributed to this miscarriage of justice. This case exemplifies how perpetrators of torture in Kazakhstan continue to enjoy systemic impunity, even in cases with clear evidence.
5. Urgent Concern: Weaponization of International Financial Regulatory Frameworks
We wish to draw your urgent personal attention, Madam High Representative, to a matter that requires immediate EU intervention. As demonstrated in eight comprehensive reports published by the Open Dialogue Foundation over the past three years, the current Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regulatory framework is being systematically weaponized by Kazakhstan and other Central Asian regimes against critics rather than being used for its intended purpose of preventing sanctions evasion and money laundering.
The sharing of financial intelligence and data with these countries’ authorities has directly enabled the targeting of opposition figures, human rights defenders, and independent journalists through the misuse of AML/CFT mechanisms. This represents a dangerous subversion of international financial cooperation systems and allows authoritarian regimes to extend their repression beyond their borders while appearing to comply with international standards.
Practically, the authorities can freeze bank accounts, crowdfunding platforms, or crypto-asset services within minutes, even without a court decision, effectively silencing legitimate political opposition and civil society. This mechanism is also used to close social media accounts of critics, journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders.
Our Appeal
We urge you, in your capacity as High Representative, to:
1. As requested in numerous resolutions of the European Parliament 2018-2022, the written declarations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2018-2025 on Kazakhstan and EU strategy on Central Asia adopted in 2024, condition deeper EU-Central Asia cooperation on concrete, measurable improvements in human rights protection: release of political prisoners, cessation of politically motivated prosecutions, accountability for perpetrators of torture and human rights violations, and an end to transnational repression against critics and human rights defenders abroad, including surveillance, coercion-by-proxy, and injustice laundering.
2. Ensure that EU-Kazakhstan diplomatic and economic relations include binding human rights clauses with implementation mechanisms and regular monitoring, with emphasis on respect for freedom of assembly, expression, and media, including an end to the practice of routinely denying permission for peaceful demonstrations.
3. We particularly urge you, Madam High Representative, to initiate a comprehensive review of the FATF regulatory framework and information-sharing practices with Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries. This issue demands your personal attention as it represents a systematic abuse of international mechanisms. The EU must establish stricter safeguards to ensure that financial intelligence shared with these regimes is not weaponized for political repression. Without such safeguards, the EU risks becoming complicit in enabling transnational repression through its participation in international financial information-sharing arrangements.
The European Union, as a global leader in defending human rights and democracy, has both the responsibility and leverage to influence positive change in Kazakhstan.
We would welcome the opportunity to provide further information or briefings to you or your staff before your upcoming meetings.
Respectfully,
Open Dialogue Foundation, Belgium
Human Rights Protection Foundation “Qaharman” , Kazakhstan
Human rights movement “405”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Initiative “Bostandyq Kz”, Kazakhstan
The human rights movement “Veritas”, Kazakhstan
Human Rights Movement “Femina Virtute”, Kazakhstan
Human rights movement “Article 14”, Kazakhstan
The Human Rights movement “Elimay”, Kazakhstan
Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation, the U.S.
cc:
– Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
– Mounir SATOURI, Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI)
– Giusi PRINCI, Chair of the Delegation to Central Asia (DCAS)
Cover photo: europarl.europa.eu
