On 4 June, police officers attacked and rudely detained peaceful protesters who, at the time, were holding their 117th day of peaceful pickets near the Chinese consulate in Almaty demanding the release of their relatives from concentration camps in Xinjiang.
The peaceful demonstrators were detained on their way back from the mosque. After the rally outside the consulate, protesters went to the Central Mosque in Almaty to ask visitors of the mosque to say prayers for their relatives held in Chinese concentration camps and prisons.
Among those detained were:
Khalida #AKYTKAN
Zhamila #MAKEN
Baibolat #KUNBOLAT
Nurzat #YERMEKBAI
Altynai #ARASAN.
During the arrest, an unidentified police officer/NSC officer in plainclothes (allegedly named Aitan) kicked 67-year-old Khalida AKYTKAN in the groin area with all his strength. The woman lost consciousness from the brutal blow. At the same time, Baibolat Kunbolat was also beaten.
Nurzat YERMEKBAI, Zhamila MAKEN and Altynai ARASAN received administrative fines in the amount of 61257 tenge ($144) at the Medeu Region Police Station, where they were held for about 12 hours. On the same day, Akikat #KALIOLLA was illegally fined a similar amount.
They go on peaceful pickets demanding to stop genocide in China, the release of their relatives imprisoned in concentration camps in China, to stop the persecution of Kazakhs, and the closure of concentration camps.
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Thus, the Kazakhstani authorities support the repressive actions of the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang against ethnic minorities by persecuting their relatives in Kazakhstan.
A politically motivated court-imposed illegal administrative fines on detainees for their participation in allegedly “unsanctioned” rallies in the following amounts:
Nurzat YERMEKBAI – 61,257 tenge ($144);
Zhamila MAKEN – 61,257 tenge ($144);
Altynai ARASAN – 61,257 tenge ($144);
Akikat KALIOLLA – 145,850 tenge ($342).
Daniyar Khassenov
