In an attempt to prevent a reduction in the volume of foreign investment in the country’s economy, and to maintain its positive international image, the authorities of Kazakhstan are being forced to make individual concessions in the cases of political prisoners.
Thus far, more than 38 cases of politically motivated criminal prosecution have been registered in Kazakhstan. Of these, 24 political prisoners are being held in prisons and detention facilities, or even (in two cases) in mental hospitals.
In a recent interview conducted by Domenico Letizia for Cronache di Napoli, an Italian newspaper, Anna Koj, head of the Open Dialog’s EU Office, spoke about the Foundation’s work in promoting democracy and the rule of law in the post-Soviet states.
In his latest piece for L’Opinione, Italian on-line magazine on civil freedoms and rights, Domenico Letizia calls Kazakhstan the state of “injustice” and analyses the problem of the continuous use of various repressive methods.
In the end of June 2015, the Open Dialogue Foundation published a report ’Harassment of civil society in Kazakhstan’. The Foundation’s analyst, Katerina Savchenko, provided answers to some clarifying questions in an interview with a journalist of the Radio Azattyq, Kazis Toguzbayev.
The Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF) is a non-governmental, non-partisan organization established in Poland, in 2009. The statutory objectives of the Foundation include promotion, support and protection of human rights, democracy and rule of law in the post-Soviet area.
The Italian Foreign Ministry replied to a senator’s interpellation. In December 2014, Senator Luigi Compagna addressed a written inquiry to Italy’s government concerning political prisoners in Kazakhstan, and the situation of Zinaida Mukhortova in particular.
Zinaida Mukhortova’s counsel, Amangeldy Shormanbayev informed the Foundation about the release of the activist from the mental hospital. According to the personnel of the facility, Mukhortova does not require further treatment.
Italian Senator Luigi Compagna filed a written inquiry with the Italian government, regarding political prisoners in Kazakhstan, in particular, the situation of Zinaida Mukhortova.
Member of the European Parliament, Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, filed a written inquiry with the European Commission regarding the Ukrainian activists, abducted from the territory of Crimea: Oleg Sentsov, Gennadiy Afanasyev, Aleksey Chirniy and Alexander Kolchenko.
The chair of OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), spoke on 4 December via telephone with Kazakhstani labor activist Roza Tuletayeva, who was released from prison on 19 November.
Since Kazakhstan’s last Universal Periodic Review, the situation regarding human rights has deteriorated. Kazakhstan’s government has failed to implement many of the reform commitments to which it agreed.
Zinaida Mukhortova has been involved in the defence of human rights in Kazakhstan for years. For her activities, the authorities have sent her, for the fourth time, for compulsory psychiatric treatment, even though, in the opinion of independent experts, she is fine.
Human rights activist and lawyer from Balkhash (Karagandy Province), Zinaida Mukhortova, who was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital is no longer administered suspicious injections – reports her sister, Natalya Abent.
On 24 July 2014 the Kazakhstani human right advocate Zinaida Mukhortova was transferred to an ICU. The woman was administered an injection of an unknown substance, after which her condition rapidly deteriorated.
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