Tag: political prisoners

Disclaimer: This brief contains lists of political prisoners, victims of torture and mass shooting in January 2022, victims of political persecution, including Kazakhstani human rights defenders, and Karakalpakstani civil activists (at risk of extradition to Uzbekistan) – identified by human rights defenders. The lists are not exhaustive. The information provided in this brief has been […]

On 5 January 2022, 10 Human Rights NGOs, including the Open Dialogue Foundation, issued an appeal on the current protests taking place in Kazakhstan. Against the backdrop of the massive street protests against the government and the Nazarbayev regime, which were met with widespread repression, ODF and its partners have condemned the government’s violence and […]

Canadian MP and freedom fighter Tom Kmiec has appealed for intervention to the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Michael Chong, drawing his attention to gross human rights violations during the detention of the political prisoner Iskander Yerimbetov. Based on the passage of Canada’s Magnitsky legislation, the Canadian MP has urged the Minister to impose targeted sanctions on Azamat Iztleuov, a prison official responsible for continued abuse of human rights in Kazakhstan. Iztleuov has participated in designating certain prisoners for abuse and torture including Yerimbetov. He has also removed the video surveillance equipment from the cell in which Yerimbetov was tortured, and has further denied him the right to counsel and medical treatment.

On 3 September 2021, within the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin and head of the Russian SBER group of companies (SBER) German Gref [German Gref, the head of SBER, has been close to Putin since his work in St-Petersburg. Gref was mentioned in the Pandora papers scandal with his offshores in Singapore, Panama and Samoa] signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on Digital Transformation Projects for the Republic of Kazakhstan, Transition to the Platform-Based Digitalisation Model and the Data Driven Government Concept. The Memorandum was approved by the Decree of the Government of Kazakhstan on the same day. Pursuant to the Memorandum, SBER will create, implement and support a single centralised digital platform (GovTech) for all electronic state services in Kazakhstan to replace Kazakhstan’s existing e-government platforms (united by the website – https://egov.kz/cms/en). As of today, over 80% of state services are available on egov.kz. 

Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led United Right coalition (composed of PiS and its two minor partners – Solidarna Polska and Porozumienie) took power in 2015, we have witnessed an unprecedented level of politicization of the public prosecution service that has been transformed into a tool serving political and personal interests of the ruling camp and its members. This resulted in a growing number of politically motivated cases of investigations carried out against those regarded as opponents of the government. The continuous changes to the criminal justice system (Criminal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Law on the Prosecutor’s Service) expand the powers of the prosecution, amplifying the so-called inequality of arms between the sides of the criminal proceedings and a general repressiveness of the system.

On 30 July, Roberto Rampi, Member of the Italian Senate, together with Riccardo Magi and Mauro Del Barba, Members of the Chamber of Deputies, sent a letter to Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Italy, H.E. Sembayev Yerbolat, demanding an online meeting with political prisoner Bekizhan Mendygaziev. In the letter the Italian representatives have expressed their concern for […]

The Head of the Open Dialogue Foundation Board has been hunted by Poland’s secret services ever since he posted an online manifesto calling for a peaceful overthrow of the authoritarian rule of the PiS party. The foundation, which has gained recognition for its fight for human rights and democracy in post-Soviet countries, had to move […]

On 15 April 2021, ODF co-hosted an online conference on the new EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime and the effectiveness of personal (targeted) sanctions in safeguarding human rights. The event was co-organised in partnership with the Italian Federation for Human Rights, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Freedom Kazakhstan Foundation and the Global Committee for […]

In a letter addressed to the government of Belgium, Senator Mark Demesmaeker, member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and formerly Member of the European Parliament, has expressed his support for Bartosz Kramek and his opposition to the senseless and politically motivated persecution carried out by the Polish government against him and the Open Dialogue […]

– At first I was sure it was a joke,” said Roberto Rampi in an interview with Onet. The Italian senator was one of the people to whom the spokesman of the coordinator of the special services, Stanisław Żaryn, wrote explaining the detention of social activist Bartosz Kramek from the Open Dialogue Foundation. According to […]

19 people came to the District Court in Lublin to post PLN 300 thousand bail for Bartosz Kramek. – As I was leaving the jail, a prison guard wished me “good luck fighting the regime”. — I am grateful to all those who vouched for me, verbally and financially. Thank you and let’s keep fighting. […]

The detention of Bartosz Kramek, the husband of the President of the Open Dialogue Foundation, Lyudmyla Kozlovska, by the Internal Security Agency, has caused an outrage. Mateusz Morawiecki, Zbigniew Ziobro and Mariusz Kamiński received an international appeal for the release of the human rights activist, to which the spokesman for the minister coordinator of special […]

We are writing to express our deep concern about the detention of Mr Bartosz Kramek, a Polish activist and the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), a Poland-based international NGO on the frontlines of the fight for the rule of law in the country.

On 12-13 July our representative Maksym Sytnikov participated at the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM). SHDM is a platform for the OSCE Participating States and civil society to discuss progress made by the former in implementing OSCE commitments. The latest meeting was devoted to Digital Technologies and Human Rights. During the first session Maksym […]

On 29 June, MEPs Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Nieklas Nienass (Greens), Isabel Santos (S&D), Helmuth Scholz (The Left), and Róża Thun und Hohenstein (EPP) have signed an appeal to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to demand the liberation of political prisoner Bekizhan Mendygaziyev and the end of all acts of political persecution against his brother, human rights […]