On April 29, 2022, activist and citizen journalist Iryna Danilovych went missing in the occupied Crimea while returning home from work. On the same day, Russian security forces searched Iryna’s house in the village of Vladyslavivka near Feodosia, where she lived with her parents, and seized her phone and equipment. The representatives of the occupying […]
Mass protests in early January 2022 in Kazakhstan took place in 48 cities and over 40 localities. Growing repression, the deteriorating economic situation and bogus reforms caused this unprecedented social upheaval in the modern history of independent Kazakhstan.
The below case is an extended version of a case presented in our upcoming report entitled “Polish Public Prosecutor’s Office: Selected Cases of Malicious Prosecution and Dereliction of Duties since 2015”, published with the cooperation of the Themis Judges’ Association, the Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour Monitoring Centre (OMZRiK) and ObyPomoc – Obywatele RP. The GetBack […]
On February 1st, in the Warsaw headquarters of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR), the three leaders of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s (OSCE PA) human rights committee met with Polish civil society representatives at the forefront of defending the rule of law in the country. The purpose of the meeting was […]
This report is based on data, video and photo materials from eyewitnesses, activists, human rights defenders, peaceful protesters from more than 60 cities and villages in Kazakhstan, where protests were held. It also contains references to statements of the US, the EEAS, international organisations such as the UN, the OSCE, media outlets. In order to ensure safety of eyewitnesses, their names are not mentioned. Co-authors of this report, Raigul Sadyrbayeva and Aiya Sadvakasova, have been arrested under politically motivated criminal cases for their human rights activities. The authors of this report express their gratitude for all informants and volunteers, who contributed to this report despite risking their lives and freedom. The authors of the report extend their condolences to families, relatives and friends of those who lost their lives during these mass repressions. We strongly believe that the truth must be unravelled and perpetrators must be held accountable.
Read at: https://balkaninsight.com/2021/12/14/taking-the-fight-against-polands-government-into-the-international-arena/
After years of mostly ineffective protests against the dismantling of the independent judiciary, human-rights standards, relationship with the EU and, finally, against the ongoing deaths of migrants at the Belarus border, you’d be excused for thinking Poles must have lost hope. Indeed, some on the pro-European side of the expert circles fear Polish democracy might […]
On 26 October 2021, the District Court in Lublin refused to tighten the preventive measures imposed on Bartosz Kramek, the Head of the Board and a trustee of the Open Dialogue Foundation, finding them unreasonable and disproportionate. Thus, the court lifted the ban on leaving the country and the police probation, i.e. Bartek’s obligation to […]
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.
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 […]
The political persecution of Barlyk Mendygaziyev is yet another example of how the Nazarbayev regime is taking hostages to fight political opponents. Barlyk Mendygaziyev is a businessman, philanthropist and human rights activist from Aksai, West-Kazakhstan Region living in the United States.
In a letter sent on 2 August to Věra Jourová, Vice-president of the European Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, 10 MEPs have expressed their support for Bartosz Kramek and their opposition to the outrageous, politically motivated persecution carried out by the Polish government against him and the Open Dialogue Foundation, as well as other […]
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 […]
