Tag: DCK

1.  Introduction Tokayev’s deaf state After Kassym-Jomart Tokayev took over as President of Kazakhstan in 2019, he announced plans to implement the concept of a “listening state”, which means “supporting and strengthening civil society”. In September 2020, Tokayev stated that a priority issue for him was to “adopt new measures to protect human rights in […]

Over the last 2.5 years, the authorities of Kazakhstan have arbitrarily detained over 7,000 peaceful protesters, which is an unprecedented amount in the history of the country.

We are pleased to inform you that on 29 September 2020, the National Asylum Court of France delivered a historical decision granting refugee status to Kazakhstani opposition leader Mukhtar Ablyazov.

On May 26, 2020, seven MEPs addressed Ukrainian President Zelensky, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and the Head of the State Migration Service Maksym Sokoliuk with an appeal demanding the reevaluation of Zhanara Akhmetova’s asylum application and halting her extradition. Ms Akhmetova – a Kazakhstani journalist and oppositionist – and her 12-year-old son risk deportation from Ukraine as a consequence of the Supreme Court’s decision on May 14, 2020, which overturned its previous instance and rejected her asylum application.

In case of the extradition of Akhmetova, Ukraine would violate several ratified international conventions. For the new government, this case would become one of the first serious exams in the observation of the rights of refugees and extradition procedures. Will the new authorities of Ukraine pass the test in the cooperation with dictatorial regimes?

On September 20, 2018, Aktau City Court Judge Oralbay Nagashibaev sentenced Dzhumaev to three years’ imprisonment for participating in the Telegram chat of the banned peaceful opposition movement DCK. The court found him guilty of “incitement to hatred” and “calls for a

Following a debate during the Plenary session of March 14, the European Parliament voted on a resolution taking stock of the human rights situation in Kazakhstan, urging national authorities to “put an end to human rights abuses and all forms of political repression”.

In February 2019, mass peaceful protests, unprecedented in their scale and nature of demands, were held in different regions of Kazakhstan. Protesters complained of poverty and corruption, demanding reforms, improvement of social security and the resignation of the President.

Chairman of the Aktau City Court, Malik Kenzhaliyev, was removed from office after passing an acquittal in the case of Aigul Akberdiyeva. The authorities of Kazakhstan make it clear that they will immediately punish those judges who dare to issue independent decisions in politically motivated cases

This report is a collective complaint on behalf of 129 citizens of Kazakhstan who have fallen victim to arbitrary detention, criminal prosecution, torture, ill-treatment, threats and surveillance. All were accused of supporting the peaceful opposition movement “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan”.

On 12 July 2018, eight MEPs signed an open letter addressed to President Nazarbayev decrying the human rights situation in Kazakhstan. MEPs J. Stetina, P. Austrevicius, T. Kelam, W. Klinz, A. Gomes, H. Hautala, V. Mazuronis and J. Nart denounced the reduction of the space for civil liberties.

In the news section of the 28th issue of “Les Droits de l’Homme en Europe Orientale et dans l’Espace post-sovietique”, the Journal of the French Human Rights League (LDH) includes an article written by the Open Dialogue Foundation concerning the situation of human rights in authoritarian countries.

During the summer session of PACE, twenty-two members signed a written declaration, deploring the use of torture in detention facilities and the lack of investigation related to this systemic practice in Kazakhstan, as well as the severe violations of the right to peaceful assembly.

On 25 June, 2018, the Kyrgyz court authorised the extradition of the well-known opposition blogger Muratbek Tungishbayev to Kazakhstan. On 26 June, 2018, late in the evening, security officers took Tungishbayev from the detention centre in an unknown direction.

On May 10, 2018, Kyrgyzstani security service officers detained Muratbek Tungishbayev, blogger from Kazakhstan, in Bishkek. He is currently being kept under arrest. Tungishbayev needs urgent eye surgery to save his eyesight. A criminal case has been launched against him in Kazakhstan.