(Moscow, May 16, 2003) The release of a prominent opposition leader in Kazakhstan is a good step forward, but other prominent political prisoners remain in detention, Human Rights Watch said today.
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It’s good that Mukhtar Abliazov has been released, but he shouldn’t have been behind bars in the first place.
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“It’s good that Mukhtar Abliazov has been released, but he shouldn’t have been behind bars in the first place,” said Elizabeth Andersen, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division. “Kazakh authorities are at this moment continuing their crackdown against many other opposition politicians and independent media figures. They should stop persecuting them.”
Mukhtar Abliazov, co-founder and leader of Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), was charged with abuse of office and financial mismanagement while serving as minister of energy from 1998 to 1999. In July 2002 a court sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment following a trial that international observers said was politically motivated, riddled with procedural violations, and lacking sufficient evidence. He was released under a presidential pardon, which followed more than a year of international outcry about the case.
Other prominent opposition figures remain in prison on charges that appeared politically motivated and after trials that observers said were deeply flawed.
In August 2002, Galymzhan Zhakianov, the other DVK co-founder and former governor of Pavlodar province, was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, also on charges of abuse of office and financial mismanagement. In January 2003, independent journalist Sergei Duvanov received a three-and-a-half year prison sentence on suspicious rape charges. Duvanov had been savagely beaten by unknown assailants and charged with criminal libel in July and August 2002 after publishing information on “Kazakhgate,” a corruption scandal implicating President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his close associates in the illicit transfer of oil profits into their personal bank accounts.
“These trials involved serious due process violations,” said Andersen. “Duvanov and Zhakianov should be released until they can get a fair review of the charges against them.”
Zhakianov suffered a recent bout of pneumonia and numerous other health problems since his imprisonment. Kazakh officials have allowed several visits by foreign diplomats to Zhakianov, but failed to respond to recent requests for follow-up visits.
The three convictions have occurred against a backdrop of increasing restrictions on political and media freedoms in the lead-up to fall 2003 regional council and 2004 parliamentary elections, and as information about official corruption, such as Kazakhgate, has emerged. Last month, Human Rights Watch documented the obstruction by authorities of the registration of opposition parties, politically motivated prosecutions, and professional retaliation against opposition members, a near-total information blockade of opposition activities by the state media, and flagrant manipulation of the December 2002 parliamentary by-elections. While there were nineteen political parties registered in 2002, this year there are only seven.
Human Rights Watch also found evidence pointing to increasing measures to control the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGO), including a new restrictive draft NGO law and increased surveillance of NGOs by law enforcement authorities.
Kazakhstan also has a poor record on press freedoms. Human Rights Watch has found that editors and journalists who criticize the president, or who cover the political opposition or official corruption, have been victims of attacks and beatings by unknown individuals. The government also targets them for criminal libel cases. The Kazakhgate oil scandal has been virtually ignored by the state media, and local Internet servers in March and April blocked access to websites covering the issue.
