MEPs and prominent human rights defenders are calling on Lithuania not to make the mistake of handing Daniyar Khassenov over to Kazakhstan. Khassenov lives in Lithuania and is facing forced expulsion by a court decision. The deportation of Daniyar Khassenov from Lithuania was initiated by the Lithuanian Migration Department. Khassenov is known as a human […]
The criminal court of Perugia, Italy, has just delivered a long-awaited decision on Alma Shalabayeva’s case. On 14 October 2020, the Italian court sentenced to prison six Italian law-enforcement officers on ‘abduction’ charges and one justice of the peace for ‘forgery’. In 2013, Alma Shalabayeva, wife of Kazakhstani opposition leader and political refugee Mukhtar Ablyazov, […]
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.
This morning, 4 July 2020, Iskander Yerimbetov, Kazakhstani political prisoner released on 30 December of last year, arrived at the Geneva Airport, Switzerland, after he was granted a humanitarian visa. ODF, the Italian Federation for Human Rights (FIDU) and his family warmly welcomed him at the airport, congratulating Iskander for this long-awaited day. This is […]
A prominent Kazakhstani journalist and opposition activist Zhanara Akhmetova could be illegally extradited from Ukraine to Kazakhstan at any time. According to our sources, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine is already preparing to place her under extradition arrest. On 19 May 2020, Akhmetova got a decision by the Supreme Court of Ukraine depriving her of the chance to be granted asylum. The decision was adopted in haste during the quarantine. It was also adopted without taking into account the arguments of Akhmetova’s lawyers.
On the 20th February 2020, on the occasion of the 19th Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, together with the members of the Dutch Delegation, Farah Karimi and Boris Dittrich, we had the pleasure of hosting the side-event “New and Old Ways of Suppressing Dissent in the OSCE Area: Protecting Political Refugees from Legal and Technological Abuse”.
On 17 February 2020, we arranged a visit of Kazakhstani human rights defenders, Bota Jardemalie and Dana Zhanay, to the European Parliament in order to attend an exchange of views with DCAS members on the situation of human rights in Kazakhstan prior to the 17th EU – Kazakhstan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) meeting in Nur-Sultan on 25-27 February. The roundtable discussion provided a rich exchange of views between the MEPs and members of civil society and NGOs.
On February 6-7, 2020, a delegation of the Open Dialogue Foundation went on a two-days mission to Rome with the aim to relaunch the draft bill for an Italian Magnitsky Law, following a series of events in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate on the matter
Zhanara Akhmetova is a Kazakhstani journalist, one of the leaders of the opposition movement “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan” (DCK). For several years, Akhmetova and her minor son have been unsuccessfully seeking refugee status and, through this, political asylum in Ukraine.
We have learned with great relief of the release of Kazakhstani political prisoner Iskander Yerimbetov.
Members of the Italian Senate and the Italian Chamber of Deputies forwarded a letter to the Belgian Prime Minister, demonstrating their concern and outrage with the situation faced by Jardemalie in Belgium.
On 10 December 2019, in Kyiv, a discussion was held on the topic: “How to protect political refugees from illegal extraditions and misuse of interstate legal assistance?”. The event was held as part of the 4th National Human Rights Non-Conference. The Open Dialogue Foundation, the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation, the Kharkov Institute of Social Studies, and the Human Rights Agenda Coalition were among the organisers of the event.
Over the past years, China has increased its presence in Kazakhstan, thus making their economic and political relations more robust. Importantly, human rights and the survival of civil society are at stake, as Kazakhstani activists are afraid of the growing dependence onChina, a country which has been often perceived as a bearer of abuse and […]
On 6 November 2019, Members of the Federal Parliament of Belgium’s asked questions to the Minister of Justice Koen Geens, during a Justice Committee hearing. Five parliamentarians asked questions regarding the controversial judicial cooperation between Belgium and Kazakhstan.
On October 1, 2019, at Kazakhstan’s mutual assistance request, Belgian police conducted a warrantless search (sic!) of Kazakh political refugee and lawyer, Botagoz Jardemalie’s apartment in Brussels. The officials seized numerous electronic devices and documents, which included privileged and confidential work relating to her advocacy as a human rights lawyer. One of the most worrying […]
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