The U.S. Department of State has released its Global Human Rights Country Reports for 2020. A separate section in the report is devoted to Kazakhstan. “Human rights issues included: unlawful killings by or on behalf of the government; torture by and on behalf of the government; political prisoners; problems with the independence of the judiciary; restrictions on freedom of speech, press and the Internet; interference with the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of association; restrictions on political participation; corruption; human trafficking; restrictions on freedom of association of workers,” a brief summary of the situation in Kazakhstan is provided in the report.
At the beginning of the section devoted to Kazakhstan, the authors of the report remind that in the republic all power is concentrated in the hands of the President.
“Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became president after the elections in June 2019, which, according to the observation mission of the Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, were marked by violations: throwing in ballots and falsification of counting of votes; restrictions on freedom of assembly, expression and association; and ‘weak respect for democratic standards’ in general,” the report says.
It also notes that corruption is widespread in the country, despite the state’s struggle with it.
“The authorities selectively prosecuted officials who committed abuses, especially in high-profile corruption cases. Nevertheless, corruption remained widespread, and impunity existed for many in leadership positions, as well as for those associated with law enforcement,” the authors of the report say.
The report for Kazakhstan is subdivided into seven sections: personal integrity; civil rights and freedoms; freedom of participation in the political process; corruption and non-transparency in government; government attitudes towards international and non-governmental investigations of alleged human rights violations; discrimination, social abuse and human trafficking; workers’ rights.
Each section contains facts of numerous violations of the authorities of Kazakhstan and law enforcement agencies. It should also be noted that the report included almost all outrageous violations of human rights and freedoms reported by ACCA.
Thus, the first section reports such facts as the murder of shepherd Azamat Orazaly on October 17 last year, who was detained by the police in the village of Makanchi in the East Kazakhstan region.
“Later, that day, Orazaly died, presumably when the police tried to extort a confession of theft. On October 19, police confirmed that Azamat had died at the police station of Makanchi. As a result of the investigation, three police officers were arrested and charged with torture,” the report notes.
It also mentions the death of the activist Dulat Agadil.
“The police arrested Agadil at his home near Nur-Sultan on February 24. Early next morning, police reported that Agadil had died of a heart attack. After human rights activists demanded an impartial investigation, the medical authorities said they had found no evidence of a violent death, although they had found signs of bruising. On February 29, the President Tokayev said that he had studied the materials of the case and was confident that Agadil died of a heart attack,” the report says.
The authors of the Country Report remind that torture in Kazakhstan is prohibited by law, but this doesn’t in the least prevent the police from mocking the detainees.
“According to public statements by the Ombudsman Azimova, the number of prisoners’ complaints of torture and other abuses has increased compared to 2019. During the first 10 months of the year, her office received 125 complaints of torture and cruel treatment, compared with 84 complaints throughout the year 2019. The National Preventive Mechanism reported that 121 criminal cases were registered on these complaints and 23 people were found guilty of torture,” the report says.
As example, the story of the conviction of seven employees of the colony LA-155/8 in the village of Zarechny in Almaty region is cited. It’s worth recalling that the deputy head of the colony, Arman Shabdenov, was sentenced to 7 years in prison, the rest of the defendants received from 5 to 6 years in prison.
The document also mentions the story of the head of the operational department of AK-159/6 institution (a strict regime colony in the village of Dolinka in Karaganda region) Erbolat Askarov, who was sentenced to two and a half years of restriction of freedom for torturing prisoners, as well as the fact of mass beating of prisoners by the servicemen of the National Guard of Kazakhstan in Uralsk.
“Representatives of the National Preventive Mechanism collected 99 written complaints, and the Penitentiary Committee and the Prosecutor’s Office promised to investigate all charges. A similar incident took place in the same prison a year earlier, but no one was prosecuted for any of these incidents,” the authors of the report emphasize.
The subsection concerning the conditions in prison mentions the death of three prisoners in the special detention center in Kokshetau.
It also tells about the violations of the rights of prisoners during the pandemic.
“The relatives of the prisoners have repeatedly complained that the prison’s administration ignores the complaints of prisoners about symptoms clearly consistent with COVID-19. When such complaints reached the public, the officials of prison denied the presence of COVID-19 among prisoners and reported that they had a negative PCR test,” the report says.
It also mentions the human rights activist Elena Semenova, about whom ACCA has repeatedly written.
“The authorities continued to put pressure on the activist Elena Semenova. Prison authorities in Almaty region, Taraz and Kostanay filed seven lawsuits against her on charges of harming their dignity and honor by disseminating false information. In July, courts ruled in favor of the authorities and ordered Semenova to publicly refute her claims on social media and pay legal fees. As of September, the plaintiffs withdrew three lawsuits, and Semenova lost four lawsuits,” was summarized in the subsection of the report.
It also mentions other persons and facts about which ACCA wrote: the arrest of the activist Asiya Tulesova, the trial of the civil activist Sanavar Zakirova, numerous arrests for accepting bribes from Kazakh judges, the verdict to the activist Alnur Ilyashev, the list of political prisoners in Kazakhstan, an attempt by the authorities to establish a total control with a special certificate and much more.
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