Kazakhstan: National Committee for State Security; relationship with the former KGB; reports of human rights abuses committed; treatment of employees by the state

The Research Directorate was unable to find information on an organization in Kazakhstan called the "National Committee for State Security" among sources consulted for this Response. However, multiple reports refer to a Committee for National Security (KNB) as the post-Soviet successor to the KGB in Kazakhstan (NTI 1 Oct. 2001; RFE/RL 11 May 2001; HRW Oct. 1999; INSR Mar. 1998). Country Reports describes the organization as responsible for

national security, intelligence, and counterintelligence. The KNB also plays a law enforcement role in border security, internal security, and antiterrorism efforts, and oversees the external intelligence service, Barlau. The chairman of the KNB reports directly to the President (2002).

The current chairman of the KNB is Nartay Dutbayev (RFE/RL 14 Dec. 2001). His predecessor, Marat Tazhin (NTI 1 Oct. 2001) enhanced the KNB's responsibility on 4 May 2001 when he added drug abuse to its duties, and a commitment to "expand its foreign intelligence operations" (Kazakhstan Daily Digest 15 May 2001). Upon his succession, Dutbayev specified terrorism, subversive elements, including "those of a religious nature" and "certain [ethnic] diasporas," counterintelligence, drug trafficking and border security as KNB priorities (Interfax 14 Dec. 2001).

Observers have cited the KNB for a number of human rights concerns in Kazakhstan. Its chairman, prior to Marat Tazhin, was President Nazarbayev's son-in-law Rahat Aliyev under whom the KNB was described as conducting "quite risky operations" with Aliyev "always work[ing] on the verge of foul" such that he "would have hardly gotten away with [it] if he did not have such a high profile father-in-law" (Rossiyskaya Gazeta 24 Nov. 2001). The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights' (IHF) Human Rights in the OSCE Region report stated that the

Bodies of the Ministry of the Interior, KNB, and the tax police were responsible for the majority of unlawful detentions. People were held without any authority and many ended up in detention facilities as an administrative punishment (2001, 180).

A representative of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law stated that her group has "identified dozens of cases where prisoners have been tortured by the law enforcement agencies. Yet these crimes always remain unpunished" (Keston News Agency 14 Jan. 2002). Included among these cases is the death in detention of Kanat Biyembetov, on 3 November 2001 after his arrest for suspicion of membership in an Islamic extremist group (ibid.; Country Reports 2002). According to an official investigation, Biyembetov died as a result of kidney failure; however, reportedly he was seriously injured from "beatings sustained at the hands of officers of Kazakhstan's security police" (Keston News Agency 14 Jan. 2002).

The Institute for War and Peace Reporting noted that the National Security Committee's "reputation suffered in previous years from the alleged involvement of its officers in suppressing opposition" (25 May 2001). In this respect, Human Rights Watch noted in 1999 that

Authorities used physical force and harassment, as well as legal pretexts, to hinder opposition attempts to participate in ... elections. On October 10, as [opposition leader Akezhan] Kazhegeldin was about to appear at a press conference to announce his candidacy in the presidential elections, KNB and police officers detained him for several hours and served him with [a] summons to appear in court in connection with the meeting of the Movement of Honest Elections (Oct. 1999).

Country Reports 2001 noted that the KNB sought "to improve its public image by focusing on fighting government corruption, religious extremism, terrorism, illegal arms exports, and organized crime" (2002). Even so, "[m]embers of the security forces committed human rights abuses" (ibid.).

Reports of KNB harassment are numerous, including that directed toward labour movements (UCSJ 26 June 2000), independent and opposition media (CPJ 7 Mar. 2001; ibid. 20 Apr. 2000; ibid. 15 Mar. 2000; Eurasia 6 Nov. 1998), ethnic (AI 1 Sept. 2001) and religious communities (IHF 2001, 182), and individual politicians (RFE/RL 28 Mar. 2001; Yarmarka 5 Nov. 1998).

With respect to the treatment of former KNB members by the government or agencies of the government, the Research Directorate was able to find only one reference among sources consulted. Two sources mention the arrest of two former KNB employees who were in association with opposition candidate Akezhan Kazhegeldin during the election and were also sympathetic to or members of the Republican People's Party (KIBHR 16 Aug. 2000; ILHR 29 Jan. 2001). A letter written to the President of Kazakhstan by the International League for Human Rights stated:

The International League for Human Rights ... is seriously concerned about the threat of torture in prison of Petr Afanasenko and Satzhan Ibrayev, former officers of the National Security Committee. ...

Afanasenko and Ibrayev were arrested on December 9, 1999 and subsequently charged with illegal possession of firearms and sentenced in April 2000 by the Medeusky District Court of the city of Almaty to three and a half years in prison.

... [T]he League fears that the charges against [these men] may be politically-motivated. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), among others, sees political reasons for the convictions of Afanasenko and Ibrayev. We are concerned at reports that errors of due process may have been made during the investigation, and that these men did not have access to competent legal counsel as provided for by international human rights law.

... Since both men are professional security agents and associated with an opposition leader, the League fears that they could be subject to mistreatment either by prison officials or fellow inmates, given a pattern in the Kazakhstani prison system of inmate retaliation against former law-enforcers. Indeed, the existence of the two separate types of facilities for incarceration, which removes former law-enforcement officers from the general population, is motivated in part by this reality (ibid.).

Human Rights Watch also refers to this case as "a move widely seen as political retribution for their connection to Kazhegeldin" (HRW 10 Dec. 2000).

Further reports of the Kazakh government's treatment of former KNB officers were not found among sources consulted for this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International (AI). 1 September 2001. "Harassment of Members of the Ethnic Uighur Community." (AI-Index: EUR 01/003/2001) [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Committee to Protect Journalists. 7 March 2001. Europe and Central Asia 2000. [Accessed 2 May 2002]

_____. News Alerts. 20 April 2000. "Kazakhstan: TV Station Fires News Director for Covering Attacks on Opposition Leaders." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

_____. 15 March 2000. Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union 1999. [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001. 2002. United States Department of State. Washington, DC. [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Eurasia [Moscow]. 6 November 1998. "Statement of Akezhan Kazhegeldin." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2001. Human Rights Watch World Report. [Accessed 8 May 2002]

_____. October 1999. Kazakhstan: Freedom of the Media and Political Freedoms in the Prelude to the 1999 Elections. [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Institute for War and Peace Reporting. 25 May 2001. RCA No. 53. Tolganai Umbetalieva. "Kazak Reshuffle." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Interfax [Moscow, in English]. 14 December 2001. "Kazakhstan: New Security Head Says Afghan Terrorism May Spread to Central Asia." (FBIS-SOV-2001-1214 14 Dec. 2001/WNC)

International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). 2001. Human Rights in the OSCE Region. [Accessed 2 May 2002]

International League for Human Rights (ILHR). 29 January 2001. "Continued Pressure on Kazakh Opposition." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 1997 (INSR). March 1998. United States Department of State. (Hellenic Resources Network) [Accessed 1 May 2002]

Kazakhstan Daily Digest. 15 May 2001. "New Kazakh Security Committee Chairman Outlines Priorities." Hosted by Eurasianet.org [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law (KIBHR). Informational Newsletter. 16 August 2000. No. 14. "Revenge Based on Political Motives." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Keston News Service. 14 January 2002. Igor Rotar. "Kazakhstan: Did Security Police Kill Devout Muslim?" [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). 1 October 2001. "Kazakhstan: Government and NGO Descriptions." [Accessed 1 May 2002]

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Kazakh Report. 14 December 2001. "Senate Approves President's Nominee as Chairman of National Security Committee." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

_____. Kazakh Report. 11 May 2001. "Kazakh President Reshuffles Top Officials." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

_____. Kazakh Report. 28 March 2001. "Young Members Quit Republican People Party." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Rossiyskaya Gazeta [Moscow, in Russian]. 24 November 2001. "Row over Recognition of Kazakh President's Relative as Security Official Seen." (FBIS-SOV-2001-1127 24 Nov. 2001/WNC).

Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ). FSU Monitor. 26 June 2000. "Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (UCSJ) Expresses Deep Concern Over the Human Rights Situation in Kazakhstan." [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Yarmarka [Almaty]. 5 November 1998. Timur Daulbayev. "Mr. KNB Major-General Are You an Honorable Man?" [Accessed 2 May 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International

Country Reports ( 1998-2001)

Eurasianet.org

Human Rights Watch

Johnson's Russia List

Kazakhstan Gateway

Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law

Post-Soviet Armies Newsletter

World News Connection