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Sergei Duvanov (born 1953) is a prominent Kazakhstani journalist who, in 2002, wrote articles that claimed President Nursultan Nazarbayev and several other Kazakh politicians had illicit Swiss bank accounts containing millions of U.S.' dollars. The scandal was labeled "Kazakhgate". [1]
In 2001, the U.S. Department of Justice investigated Kazakhgate. [1] Duvanov was arrested in October 2002 at his datcha outside Almaty and accused of raping a 14-year-old girl. The arrest occurred one day before he was going to visit the United States to speak about Kazakhstan's human rights situation. [2] In January, 2003 he was found guilty and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Among others, the International League for Human Rights (ILHR), a New York-based human right watchdog, condemned the Kazakhstani government's persecution of Sergei Duvanov. On the initiative of its Central Asia Project Manager Peter Zalmayev, ILHR awarded Duvanov (in absentia) its annual human rights award at a ceremony held at the United Nations on December 9, 2002. [3] As of 15 January 2004, he is under a prison regime which allows him to go to work and live at home. However, Duvanov is not allowed to go to public places (a notion undetermined by Kazakh law). [4] Duvanov, and the opposition, claim that the case was politically motivated. [2] On January 15, 2004, Duvanov was released on probation. [5]
Legislative elections were held in Kazakhstan on 19 September and 3 October 2004. The Otan party won 42 of the 77 seats, gaining a majority in the Mazhilis.
The mass media in Kazakhstan refers to mass media outlets based in The Republic of Kazakhstan. Media of Kazakhstan are a set of public information transfer agencies in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Constitution of Kazakhstan guarantees freedom of press, but privately owned and opposition media have been subject of censorship. In 2004 the International Federation of Journalists identified a "growing pattern" of intimidation of the media, and in 2012 several opposition media outlets were ordered to be shut down on charges of promoting "extremism".
Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan is a political party in Kazakhstan. It was founded by Mukhtar Ablyazov, a businessman and a former minister and Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, who was the akim of Pavlodar Region. The QDT embraced a number of influential politicians and wealthy businessmen of the country who grew disillusioned with the inner circles of President Nazarbayev. The movement adopted a strong anti-Nazarbayev stance and criticized the corruption and nepotism of the president and his clique. The party seeks to peacefully topple the current Kazakh regime and to transform Kazakhstan into a parliamentary republic.
Human rights in Kazakhstan are uniformly described as poor by independent observers. Human Rights Watch says that "Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly, speech, and religion. In 2014, authorities closed newspapers, jailed or fined dozens of people after peaceful but unsanctioned protests, and fined or detained worshipers for practicing religion outside state controls. Government critics, including opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov, remained in detention after unfair trials. Torture remains common in places of detention."
Human rights in Egypt are guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution under the various articles of Chapter 3. The country is also a party to numerous international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, the state of human rights in the country has been criticized both in the past and the present, especially by foreign human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, although the Egyptian government has frequently rejected such criticism. According to human rights groups, as of January 2020 there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. "The worst mass killing in Egypt’s modern history" occurred during the dispersal of a sit-in on 14 August 2013, when as many as 900 protesters were killed.
Kаzаkhgаtе refers to the scandal surrounding James Giffen, an American businessman and former advisor of Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The threat of terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in relations with the United States which in 2006 were at an all-time high. Kazakhstan has taken Uzbekistan's place as the favored partner in Central Asia for both Russia and the United States. Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in the country's 94th ranking among 130 countries in the 2016 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute of Economics and Peace. The higher the position on the ranking is, the bigger the impact of terrorism in the country. Kazakhstan's 94th place puts it in a group of countries with the lowest impact of terrorism.
Kazakhskaya Pravda is a semi-monthly Russian-language newspaper printed in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with a print run of 5,000. As of 2004, the editor in chief was Aldan Aimbetov, a graduate of the Kazakh State University. He has held that position since 1993. The United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices describes their political position as "nationalist". Pal Kolsto of the University of Oslo's Institute of East European and Oriental Studies goes as far as to call them "extremist". They are unusual among Kazakh nationalist-oriented newspapers for publishing in Russian rather than the Kazakh language.
Mukhtar Qabyluly Ablyazov is a Kazakh businessman and political activist who served as chairman of Bank Turan Alem, and is a co-founder and a leader of the unregistered political party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT). He was also the former head of the state-owned Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC) as well as briefly holding the position of Minister for Energy, Industry, and Trade under Balgimbayev's cabinet before resigning from and joining the opposition against President Nursultan Nazarbayev. In November 2001, he, along with other former Kazakh government officials founded the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (QDT). As result, Ablyazov was imprisoned in March 2002 over accusations of financial fraud and political abuse until being pardoned by Nazarbayev in 2003. After being released from prison, he ceased his formal political activities with the opposition.
Azimzhan Askarov was an ethnic Uzbek Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. During the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.
Ramazan Yesergepov is a jailed Kazakhstani journalist, whose arrest led to international concerns about the freedom of the media in Kazakhstan. Prior to his arrest he was the editor of Alma-Ata Info.
'Peter Zalmayev' is director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative (EDI), an international non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of democracy and human rights in post-Communist transitional societies of Eastern and Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Irina Petrushova is a Russian journalist, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly Respublika in Kazakhstan. After a series of stories exposing government corruption, her life was threatened and her paper firebombed. In 2002, she was awarded a CPJ International Press Freedom Award.
The Zhanaozen massacre took place in Kazakhstan's western Mangystau Region over the weekend of 16–17 December 2011. At least 14 protestors were killed by police in the oil town of Zhanaozen as they clashed with police on the country's Independence Day, with unrest spreading to other towns in the oil-rich oblys, or region. According to Amnesty International, the massacre was a stark illustration of the country's poor human rights record under President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
Bolat Atabaev was a Kazakhstani theater director who in 2012 was charged with "inciting social discord" for his role in the 2011 Mangystau riots. Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience. He was released on 3 July 2012.
Tokbergen Abiyev is a Kazakh journalist. An editor of the paper Zakon i Pravosudiye, an Astana-based newspaper which specializes in documenting government corruption, he went missing on 20 December 2012, just hours after he announced to the Kazakh media that he had a sensational news report about to be published. Abiyev reappeared on 4 January 2013.
Vladimir Ivanovich Kozlov is a Kazakh journalist and politician who has been a leader of the democratic opposition in Kazakhstan and a candidate for his country's presidency. In 2012, he was the defendant in what Deutsche Welle described as “the first political trial in Kazakhstan.” The US charged Kazakhstan with using its criminal-justice system “to silence a leading opposition voice.” Kozlov, who was found guilty and served a prison sentence, has been designated by Amnesty International as a “prisoner of conscience.” He was released in 2016.
The 2018–2020 Kazakh protests were a series of civil protests that took place in cities across Kazakhstan, commencing in May 2018 and gaining traction after a fire in Nur-Sultan killed five children in February 2019. Some commentators attribute President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev's decision to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Bakhytzhan Sagintayev later that month in part to the protests. Nazarbayev later himself resigned on 19 March 2019 and was replaced as president by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the speaker of the upper house of parliament. Nazarbayev continued to hold several political positions. Tokayev called a snap election, the 2019 Kazakh presidential election, which saw him elected with over 70% of the vote. Both the run-up to and the aftermath of the election saw further protests.
Dulat Shakiruly Agadil was a Kazakh civil and human rights activist.
Alnur Ilyashev is a Kazakhstani human rights activist. He was arrested in April, 2020, for writing Facebook posts critiquing the Nur Otan Party and its officials.
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