Amnesty International Report 2005 - Kazakstan

Covering events from January - December 2004

Uighur asylum-seekers and refugees were at risk of detention and forcible return to China. An independent journalist was released early and an opposition leader's terms of imprisonment were eased.

Background

In April Kazakstan signed a first Mutual Cooperation Agreement with the Council of Europe pledging to encourage total abolition of the death penalty and to submit annual reports on progress towards the rule of law. A moratorium on executions had been introduced in December 2003.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the September parliamentary elections, which saw the pro-presidential party Otan win over 60 per cent of the votes, fell short of OSCE and Council of Europe standards.

In November the National Security Committee (KNB) announced that it had arrested 13 men – nine from Kazakstan and four from Uzbekistan – in connection with a series of explosions and attacks on police checkpoints in March and April and three suicide bombings in July in neighbouring Uzbekistan. Four Kazak women were also detained, accused of having been trained as suicide bombers. All were described as members of a previously unknown organization, the Mujahedin of Central Asia, allegedly linked to the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al-Qa'ida.

Uighur asylum-seekers and refugees

Members of the Uighur ethnic group who were returned to China were at risk of grave human rights violations.

In November the KNB announced that Kazakstan had extradited 14 Uighurs to China and Kyrgyzstan in the past six years. All were allegedly members of the East Turkestan Liberation Party and had been accused of "extremist" activities.

There was concern that increasing cooperation between Kazakstan and China could result in greater restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly for Uighur nationals in Kazakstan. Local Uighur activists expressed alarm at a series of racist media reports which described Uighurs as "separatists" or "terrorists".

Uighur asylum-seekers faced an ever-present risk of being detained by the police as "illegal immigrants", which put them in greater danger of being forcibly returned to China. Kazakstan did not allow Uighurs access to the national asylum procedure, reportedly because of the delicate relationship with China. Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with Uighur asylum-seekers also reported growing numbers of cases where Uighurs "disappeared" and were presumed to have been forcibly returned to China.

Some NGOs were reportedly threatened, intimidated and harassed in order to prevent them from working with Uighurs.

Political prisoners – update

• In August Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, one of the leaders of the opposition Democratic Choice of Kazakstan, was transferred from prison to a more relaxed regime at a so-called colony settlement in Pavlodar region. He had been sentenced to seven years' imprisonment in 2002 for "abuse of office" and financial crimes. The real reason for his imprisonment appeared to be his peaceful opposition activities.

• Sergei Duvanov, an independent journalist, was conditionally released in August after serving half of his sentence. He had been sentenced in January 2003 to three and a half years in prison for rape after a trial which according to international observers fell far short of international fair trial standards and may have been politically motivated. On 29 December a court ordered his transfer to a colony settlement which allowed him to work and to live at home.