PRESS RELEASE
April 17, 2024 Almaty
By the decision of the Expert Council of April 17, 2024 the following persons were recognized as political prisoner:
1. Dzhaparova Kalima, a civic activist from Shymkent, pensioner, worked as a paramedic- -laboratory technician and was engaged in private trade. Since 2019, she has been expressing her civic position on the domestic policy of our country and the foreign policy of Russia. Dzhaparova has repeatedly publicly expressed her opinion on Russia’s war in Ukraine. She has condemned the Russians for aggression and occupation of part of the territory of the independent country, as well as for attacks against the civilian population of Ukraine. Dzhaparova was repeatedly detained by the police for a period of no more than 3 hours. She was then released without any report of her detention. On October 23, 2023 Dzhaparova was detained and transferred to the temporary detention facility (TDF) of the Shymkent Police Department, her acts were qualified under Part 2 of Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Incitement of social, national, tribal, racial, class or religious hatred”.
2. Akhmetkaliev Malik – member of the Public Council of the city of Kokshetau, civic activist, in 2023 he regularly raised acute issues and criticized authorities. He criticized the Akim of Akmola region, formerly the Akim of Kokshetau city Marzhykpaev E.B. for the deteriorating the social and economic situation in Akmola region, poor quality of asphalt pavement in courtyards, insufficient sanitary arrangements, and absence of centralized gas supply, clogged sewerage systems, drains, abandoned constructions and long-term constructions in some micro-districts of the city of Kokshetau. In addition, he personally met with the residents of the city who appealed to the Public Council on systemic problems in the social sphere. On June 21, 2023 Akhmetkaliev was arrested and since then he has been in custody. Since December 29, 2023 in the Kokshetau City Court of the Akmola Region there are court hearings on the charges against Akhmetkaliev for committing a crime under Article 296 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Illegal handling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues without the intention to sell”.
3. Zhamuratov Asylbek, a civic activist from Almaty, a private businessman, together with like-minded people, applied for registration of the political party “Alga Kazakhstan!”. Since 2022 he is a member of the initiative group of the party “Alga Kazakhstan!” and provides material support to activists from different regions of the country. He created a family WhatsApp chat of 11 people, where M. Ablyazov was a member. The chat was fully scanned by the special services and used as the basis for the charges. On November 30, 2023, Zhamuratov was arrested and transferred to the TDF in the city of Taldykorgan. He was charged under Part 1 of Article 258 “Financing terrorist or extremist activities and other aiding and abetting terrorism or extremism” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Part 1 of Article 405 “Organizing and participating in the activity of public or religious association or other organization after a court decision on prohibition of their activity or liquidation in connection with carrying out by them extremism or terrorism” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Investigation is in progress.
Brief information about the people on the list:
- Dzhaparova Kalima, a civic activist from the city of Shymkent. Dzhaparova is charged with abuse of freedom of expression, specifically for using the words “Death to Russian fascists in Ukraine and Crimea”. In the opinion of the members of the Expert Council, such an expression from the mouth of the retired woman should be considered as a value judgment, which is widely shared in social networks, especially in Ukrainian ones, and is accepted by all people who are not indifferent, who have a civic position and express it in relation to the aggression of Russia against Ukraine. In discussing Dzhaparova’s case, the Council of Experts concluded that these words could not be considered incitement to national hatred and enmity because the term “fascists” was used and there was no real direct threat to others in this case. In protest against Russia’s war in Ukraine, Dzhaparova painted the facade of her house in the Ukrainian flag colors. In 2020, the police came to her house and talked to her insisting that she stop to express her opinion on the relationship between Russia and Ukraine. On October 23, 2023, Dzhaparova was arrested and transferred to the TDF of the Shymkent city police department. On October 24, 2023, Dzhaparova’s actions were qualified under Part 2 of Article 174 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On October 24, 2023, the Investigation Court of Shymkent authorized a measure of restraint in the form of “detention in custody” in respect of Dzhaparova. On December 28, 2023 the criminal case with the indictment was sent to the Interdistrict Criminal Court of the city of Shymkent under Article 300 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On January 16, 2024 by the decision of the specialized interdistrict administrative court of the city of Shymkent Dzhaparova was held administratively liable in the form of administrative detention for a period of 15 days under Part 1 of Article 73-3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On January 22, 2024, the Shymkent Interdistrict Criminal Court sent the criminal case back to the prosecutor’s office for correction of defects. The measure of restraint applied against Dzhaparova in the form of “detention in custody” remained unchanged and was extended for a period of one month from the date of receipt of the case by the prosecutor. On March 26, 2024 the Special Investigation Court of Shymkent did not consider the investigator’s request to authorize the prolongation of the preventive measure in the form of “detention in custody” for 20 days for the period of familiarization with the materials of the criminal case. On March 27, 2024 the criminal case was transferred to the Shymkent Interdistrict Criminal Court.
- Akhmetkaliev Malik, а civic activist from the city of Kokshetau.
Akhmetkaliev used his Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/malikakhmetkaliev/) to inform about the poor quality of commissioned social infrastructure facilities (housing, schools, hospitals, roads, etc.), which construction companies, having received budget funds, use with violations. Akhmetkaliev is a member of the Public Council of the city of Kokshetau, and he regularly raised acute issues and criticized the authorities. He publicly raised the problems of lack of lighting in the streets of settlements and landscaping in the streets and alleys of the city of Kokshetau, failure to complete works when putting into operation the facilities and surrounding areas, (putting in order the yards, sports grounds, etc.), deficiencies in providing public utilities to houses in new neighborhoods, lack of central gas supply. He also criticized the quality of drinking water supplied to houses in the settlements, failure to ensure uninterrupted power and water supply to dacha plots. M. Akhmetkaliev was sentenced to 15 days of administrative punishment under Article 488 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Kazakhstan for his presence on the square near the House of Culture “Kokshetau” and participation in the peaceful assembly on January 4, 2022. On June 21, 2023, Akhmetkaliev was arrested. During detention, 1.59 grams of mephedrone without the purpose of sale was found in his pocket. On December 07, 2023, the indictment was prepared. It was approved by the prosecutor of the city of Kokshetau. Since December 29, 2023 in the Kokshetau City Court of Akmola region there are court hearings on the charges against Akhmetkaliev for committing a crime under Article 296 “Illegal handling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues without the intention to sell” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The circumstances of Akhmetkaliev’s detention, based on the documents and video recordings provided, raises a number of questions and raises suspicion that it was a provocation that involved women with low social responsibility and the planting of drugs in large quantities. This allows us to assume a possible political motivation of his prosecution. However, all charges must be proven in an impartial, objective and fair trial where Akhmetkaliev’s rights are respected and any political motivation for his prosecution is ruled out. Until such time, the civiс activist must be presumed innocent, in accordance with the principle of the presumption of innocence.
- Zhamuratov Asylbek, a civic activist from Almaty.
On November 30, 2023, Zhamuratov was arrested and transferred to the Talgar City Police Department’s TDF. On December 01, 2023 acts of Zhamuratov were qualified under Part 1 of Article 258 “Financing of terrorist or extremist activities and other aiding and abetting terrorism or extremism” and Part 1 of Article 405 “Organizing and participating in the activity of public or religious association or other organization after a court decision on prohibition of their activity or liquidation in connection with carrying out by them extremism or terrorism” of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. On December 01, 2023, the specialized investigative court of the city of Konaev, Almaty region, sanctioned a preventive measure in the form of “detention in custody” for a period of two months, i.e. until January 30, 2024. On January 22, 2024, the specialized investigative court of the city of Konaev has satisfied the motion of the investigator to extend the term of preventive measure in the form of “detention in custody” against Zhamuratov to 3 months. On March 28, 2024, the specialized investigative court of Konaev city extended the term of preventive measure in the form of “detention in custody” against A.Zhamuratov to 4 months. At the moment A.Zhamuratov is detained in the TDF of Taldykorgan.
Expert Council:
Galym Ageleuov
Lukpan Akhmedyarov
Zauresh Battalova
Gulmira Birzhanova
Anara Ibraeva
Yevgeniy Zhovtis
Yerlan Kaliev
BakhytzhanToregozhina
April 17, 2024, Almaty
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