On 6 July 2019, rallies were planned in various cities of Kazakhstan to demand that the results of the presidential election be cancelled and Nazarbayev be deprived of power, as well as against Chinese expansion. Law enforcement agencies detained about 700 peaceful protesters in different places.
On 9 October 2018, over 150 Kazakhstani representatives of human rights organisations and Kazakhstani citizens signed an open letter to Ambassador T. Greminger, General Secretary of the OSCE, in view of his visit to Astana to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the OSCE office in Kazakhstan.
Media and human rights organisations, including the Open Dialog Foundation, have issued a joint statement, demanding from law enforcement officers, a public report on the investigation into the assassination of Pavel Sheremet.
Members of the EP Mrs Julie Ward, Mrs Marju Lauristin, Mr Tomáš Zdechovský and Mr Tunne Kelam have addressed in a joint letter the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) and Secretary General of Interpol concerning the abuse of international arrest warrants by Kazakhstani authorities.
As the Open Dialog Foundation, we would like to thank you for your support during the past year and wish you all the best in your professional and personal life in 2017! On this occasion we would like also to share with you some of the ODF’s top achievements of the year 2016.
Representatives of the Foundation follow and attend the most important sessions and meetings of the international organizations and institutions in Brussels, Strasbourg, Vienna and Geneva.
Open Dialog Foundation calls on to urgently react to the wave of arrests of Kazakhstan activists, and make every effort to prevent violence against citizens during peaceful rally planned for the 21 May, 2016 in several Kazakhstan cities.
On Thursday, 25 February 2016, the Open Dialog Foundation and the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty organised a working lunch dedicated to the topic of persecution of independent media and political opposition in Central Asia.
Kazakhstan demands that administrations of social networks disclose personal data of independent journalists, bloggers and political opponents. In retaliation for criticism, the authorities bring criminal charges of ‘spreading false information’ against inconvenient journalists.
Journalists of the online portal ‘Nakanune.kz’ Guzal Baidalinova and Rafael Balgin have been taken into custody and placed under arrest for 2 months. Their colleague, Yulia Kozlova is also facing arrest. The journalists are being prosecuted under Art. 274 of the Criminal Code of the Kazakhstan.
On 18 December 2015, police raided the editorial office of the online portal ‘Nakanune.kz’ as well as apartments of the journalists: Gyuzyal Baidalinova, Yulia Kozlova and Rafael Balgin. The journalists may face charges of ‘spreading false information’.
A citizen of the Republic of Poland was faced with a dubious criminal prosecution in Ukraine and has spent the last 4 years in pre-trial incarceration without having been sentenced by a court.
The president of a Kazakh foundation “National Anti-corruption Committee”, Musagali Duambekov, has been sentenced to one year of imprisonment for “defamation” after the publication of a series of journalistic investigations.
