PACE made clear demands for justice reform, anti-corruption, the release of 39 political prisoners

Key achievements:

The Assembly condemned Kazakhstan’s import of Chinese-made censorship and surveillance systems, restricting digital rights and freedom of speech through terrifying means like real-time monitoring, deep packet inspection, and targeting of activists online.

PACE made clear demands for justice reform, anti-corruption, and the release of 39 political prisoners—including those targeted not just for peaceful protest and activism, but also via coordinated financial repression: criminalisation of fundraising, weaponised anti-money laundering laws, and denial of banking access to critics and their families. The Assembly also explicitly condemned Kazakhstan’s transnational repression and called to stop the domestic and transnational persecution of representatives of the peaceful political opposition movements “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan”, “Koshe Partiyasy”, and “Alga Kazakhstan”, as recalled in the European Parliament Resolutions of 20 January 2022 on the situation in Kazakhstan and of 17 January 2024 on the European Union strategy on Central Asia.

MPs sharply criticized Kazakhstan’s persistent refusal to register the peaceful opposition party “Alga Kazakhstan”—blocked for the 25th time—and condemned financial attacks against civic movements. The Assembly called for the full rehabilitation and immediate release of imprisoned leaders and activists, including Marat Zhylanbayev, Askar Sembai, Asylbek Zhamuratov, Aidar Syzdykov, Asanali Suyubaev, and journalist Duman Mukhametkarim, as well as an end to harassment of human rights defender Bakhytzhan Toregozhina.

Yet, despite these advances, we need to mention that rapporteur Zsolt Németh, as well as PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos and Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou, met with Kazakh officials without mentioning the government’s international human rights obligations. This disconnect between PACE’s resolution and the leadership’s messaging risks undermining the Assembly’s principled stance.

The situation in Kazakhstan requires continued vigilance. As the resolution of PACE concludes, any positive assessments must remain conditional on real, measurable human rights progress.