PRESS RELEASE EXPANSION OF THE LIST OF POLITICAL PRISONERS OF KAZAKHSTAN

May 3, 2022 Almaty

By the decision of the Expert Council of May 3, 2022, the following persons were recognized as political prisoners:

Narymbaev Yermek, a social activist (Almaty), was detained at Almaty International Airport on February 6, 2022, upon his return from a 7-year period of emigration, and was taken to the facility LA-155/18 in Almaty for violating the probation supervision of him serving a sentence in the form of restriction of liberty. On April 12, 2022, the Almaty City Court dismissed the lawyer’s special appeal and on February 16, 2022, Narymbaev was escorted to the facility LA-155/14 in the village of Zarechnoe, Almaty region, to serve the remainder of his sentence in the form of imprisonment.
Mamay Zhanbolat, opposition politician, the leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (Almaty). On March 12, 2022 Mamay Zh.M. was arrested and taken to the temporary detention facility of the Police Department of the city of Almaty and declared a suspect under Article 378, Part 2, Article 274, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the RK; his arrest was authorized for 2 months.

3.Okhasov Orynbay, a civic activist (Uralsk). By the sentence of the Uralsk city court dated November 18, 2021 he was found guilty of committing a crime under Article 405 of the Criminal Code of the RK “Participation in a prohibited extremist movement” and sentenced to restriction of liberty for the term of 1 year. On March 25, 2022, by the proposal of the probation service, the unserved part of restriction of liberty to Okhasov Orynbay was changed to imprisonment for the term of 7 months and 17 days.

Aibek Sabitov, a civic activist. By the sentence of the Saryarka district court of the city of Nur-Sultan city dated May 13, 2021, he was found guilty of committing a crime under Article 405 Part, 2 of the Criminal Code of the RK and sentenced to restriction of liberty for the term of 1 year. On January 13, 2022, upon the proposal of the department of the Probation Service of the city of Shymkent the restriction of liberty to Sabitov A. S. was changed to imprisonment for the remainder of 3 months and 15 days.
Baimagambetov Muratbay, a civic activist (Kyzylorda). M. Baimagambetov’s actions were subsumed under Article 272, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan for participating in peaceful protests in January 2022. On January 11, 2022 a ruling of the Kyzylorda Examining Court ordered to keep him in custody for 2 months. The charges were based on the fact that Baimagambetov was present among the protesters, and currently he is kept in the pre-trial detention facility of Kyzylorda city.
Valiev Darhan, a civic activist from Almaty. D. Valiev was detained for participating in peaceful protests in January 2022 near the morgue building in Almaty when he went to retrieve the body of his murdered brother Aslan Valiev and was placed to the temporary detention facility in Almaty. On January 11, 2022, the act of D. Valiev was subsumed under Article 272, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and his arrest for 2 months was authorized. The accusation was based on the fact that D. Valiev was present among the protesters on Independence Square. He is currently held in the facility LA-155/18 in Almaty.

Brief information about the persons on the list:

Narymbaev Yermek: On October 22, 2016, by the verdict of the Almaly District Court of Almaty, Y. Narymbaev was condemned under Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the RK and sentenced to 3 years of restriction of liberty. Nevertheless, Narymbaev left for Ukraine, he has had a permanent place of residence there, and was granted the status of a political refugee. On August 11, 2016, the Auezov District Court of Almaty upheld the motion of the probation service to declare E. Narymbaev wanted. On April 25, 2017, the court changed E. Narymbaev’s preventive measure from house arrest to detention, and on May 22, 2017 the Auezov district court replaced the unserved portion of the punishment in the form of restriction of liberty with 2 years and 5 months of deprivation of liberty On 6 February 2022, Y. Narymbaev was taken into custody upon his return to Almaty and transferred to an institution of the penal system to serve his sentence.
Mamay Zhanbolat: Opposition politician, journalist, activist from Almaty, leader of the unregistered Democratic Party of Kazakhstan. On 25 February 2022 Zhanbolat Mamay was subjected to administrative arrest for the organization of an unauthorized meeting on 13 February 2022 in memory of the victims of January anti-government protests in Kazakhstan. On March 12, 2022, Zh. Mamay was supposed to be released from the place of administrative detention after serving 15 days of administrative arrest. However, they did not release him, he was transferred to a pre-trial detention facility and brought charges under the articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Zh. Mamay was twice refused to be granted amnesty.
Okhasov Orynbay: A civic activist from Uralsk. O. Okhasov participated in various peaceful rallies and expressed his opinion, and has repeatedly been brought to administrative penalties in the form of fines and arrests from 1 to 20 days.
Sabitov Aybek: Civic activist. Sabitov A. is serving his sentence in the facility ICH-187/3 in Shymkent. For his activities Sabitov Aybek has been repeatedly brought to administrative sanctions in the form of administrative arrests for 10-15 days.
BaimagambetovMuratbay: Civic activist from Kyzylorda. By the verdict of the court of Kyzylorda he was sentenced under Part 1, 2 of Article 405 of the Criminal Code of the RK and the punishment in the form of restriction of liberty for a period of 2 years was imposed on him. He has a disability group III and has been repeatedly imposed administrative penalties in the form of fines and administrative arrests for 15 days for participating in peaceful rallies.
Darhan Valiev: Civic activist from Almaty. On January 10, 2022, Darhan Valiev repeatedly held solitary pickets in Almaty to demand the release of political prisoners and was punished with administrative penalties in the form of administrative arrests for 10-15 days. On October 11, 2021, the Almaly district court of Almaty sentenced him under Article 405 of the Criminal Code and prescribed punishment in the form of restriction of liberty for a term of 1 year and 3 years, as well as a ban on engaging in social activities.