Amnesty International Report 1994 - Kazakstan

KAZAKHSTAN

A former prisoner of conscience faced renewed prosecution on a charge of slandering the President. An unknown number of people were executed.

A new Constitution entered into force in January. It incorporates a number of human rights guarantees found in the principal international human rights instruments.

Karishal Asanov, a writer and academic who spent three months in pre-trial detention in 1992 before being acquitted of "infringement upon the honour and dignity of the President" (Article 170-3 of the criminal code - see Amnesty International Report 1993), was tried again on this charge in May after the Supreme Court upheld a protest by the procurator against the original trial verdict. At the retrial Karishal Asanov was convicted and given a three-year suspended prison sentence. He appealed against this verdict to the Supreme Court, which in July overturned it on the grounds of violations of the right to legal defence. The Supreme Court ordered a second retrial, but in December the case was dropped.

No death sentences were reported but it was officially announced in September that an undisclosed number of people had recently been executed.

Amnesty International called for further proceedings against Karishal Asanov under Article 170-3 to be dropped. It also called for the criminal code provision under which he was charged to be repealed as it appeared to place unwarranted restrictions on freedom of expression. Throughout the year Amnesty International continued to press for abolition of the death penalty.

In January Amnesty International wrote to President Nursultan Nazarbayev concerning a decree he had issued in December 1992, which provides for deserters from the armed forces and men evading conscription to face criminal prosecution. The organization called for the introduction of an alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors to military service. In March the head of the department of law enforcement organs in the President's office replied that legislation on military service exempts men from conscription if they have taken holy orders or have "work duties" with a registered religious faith. There were no reports of people being imprisoned for refusing conscription on grounds of conscience.