One more name has been added to the list of political prisoners in Kazakhstan. As ACCA was informed in the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights (KIBHR), on August 10 in Chimkent, a court hearing was held in the case of the previously convicted and suspended sentence civil activist Sabit Syzdykbek.
Sabit Syzdykbek was convicted in March of this year for publishing a post on Facebook in February in support of the opposition movement “Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan” (DCK), banned by the court decision. Syzdykbek was charged with “political” Article 405 of the Criminal Code “Participation in the activities of a public or religious association or other organization after a court decision banning their activities or liquidating them in connection with their implementation of extremism or terrorism”.
The court sentenced the civil activist to one and a half years of restriction of freedom. However, on August 10, the suspended sentence was changed to a real one. As the Facebook-group of civic activists # IHaveAChoiсe #ActivistsNotExtremists reports, the reason was that Syzdykbek “didn’t register with the probation service”. Now the activist will have to spend 9 months behind bars, remaining from his 1.5-year term of restriction of freedom.
Meanwhile, as noted in the KIBHR, the publication of Syzdykbek’s post on Facebook became only a reason for his conviction. According to human rights activists, the real reason was that the activist took part in four single pickets demanding an end to political persecution and the dissolution of the Security Council, headed by former President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
It’s worth noting that 19 names were included in the list of political prisoners in Kazakhstan.
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