Kazakhstan: the activist Alnur Ilyashev was sentenced

On June 22 in Kazakhstan, a famous civil activist Alnur Ilyashev was sentenced to three years of restraint of freedom.

Even in the morning before the trial, neither relatives, nor Ilyashev’s supporters, nor human rights activists could even think that by the evening it would all be over. The defense side was preparing for a long process. And there was a reason!

Recall that Alnur Ilyashev, known for his sharp criticism of the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, as well as for regular attempts to hold rallies, was detained in mid-April.

According to the police department of Almaty, Ilyashev allegedly repeatedly disseminated knowingly false information, and he ignored the demands to stop misleading citizens.

“He didn’t draw the proper conclusions even after the court’s decision on the protection of honor and business reputation, as a result of which the court ordered Alnur Ilyashev to take measures and post a rebuttal to information previously spread by him,” the press service noted then, adding that a lawsuit had been opened against the activist under the article of the Criminal Code “Dissemination of knowingly false information during a state of emergency”. He was placed in a temporary detention center. On April 18, the court authorized the arrest of Ilyashev for a period of two months.

Later, it became known the details of Ilyashev’s detention and what exactly he was charged with.

According to the case materials, “Ilyashev made posts on social networks containing negative information about the public association “Nur Otan party”. The chairman of this party is the first President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev. Moreover, the police argued that Ilyashev’s arrest was that if he was free, he could create a “protest mood in society.”

The famous Kazakh human rights activist, the director of Kazakhstan’s International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Yevgeny Zhovtis, called Ilyashev “a political prisoner”. In turn, the International Fund for the Protection of Freedom of Speech “Adil Soz” published an open appeal addressed to the Prosecutor General of Kazakhstan Gizat Nurdauletov, in which they called what was happening “witch hunt” and “crackdown”.

In addition, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) mentioned Ilyashev in its report on the observance of human rights in Central Asia during the fight against coronavirus infection.

At the trial, which began on June 12, quite interesting details were revealed. In particular, it turned out that the case against Ilyashev was not initiated at the suit of the party “Nur Otan”, but on the basis of a police report. This was reported by Ilyashev’s lawyer Vitaliy Voronov.

“Despite the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and the dissemination of information, in Kazakhstan, there are special police units and officials maintained at the expense of taxpayers who monitor social networks in order to identify the so-called civil activists and conducting, in spite of the requirements of the law, unspoken operational-search measures against an uncertain number of people,” Voronov said in his statement at the court. “It’s regarding almost all of us, one way or another, represented on social networks. This is evidenced by the report of the police investigator of Almaty, A. Kuzenbay, available in the materials of the criminal case. It contains a link to another report of the senior detective of the Directorate of resistance to extremism under the police department of Almaty, R.N. Seitkanov, who independently discovered during social monitoring in the social networks (in YouTube messenger and on the channel “БАСЕ”) the appeal of civic activists and registered his message concerning this fact in the Information Register at No.0003008266 to decide on the possibility of starting a pre-trial investigation. It is on the basis of these reports concerning the discovery of information about the criminal offense that on April 8, 2020, this fact was registered and a pre-trial investigation of the criminal case was launched.”

At the same time, Voronov emphasized that “if such monitoring was carried out within the framework of the law in order to protect the constitutional order, public order, human rights and freedoms, health and morality of the population with all the legal consequences arising from this,” that would be understandable.

“The persecution of dissenters at all times and in all countries, especially in the criminal procedure, has nothing to do with either law or justice,” Voronov emphasized.

By the way, the party “Nur Otan” also previously stated that it has nothing to do with the prosecution of Ilyashev.

“No complaints against Ilyashev from the party “Nur Otan” through the judicial and law enforcement agencies were made. We proceed from the fact that the current situation is exclusively in the view of relations between citizen Ilyashev and the law. Moreover, earlier in the media and social networks information was repeatedly published about his problems with the law. In this regard, the hints of individuals about the party. This is pure conspiracy, or nothing more than an attempt to lay the blame at someone else’s doorstep. Our party has always consistently advocated the rule of law, the inviolability of which is ensured by law enforcement and judicial bodies. This is especially important in emergency situations. We are confident that the investigative, supervisory and judicial authorities will give an objective legal assessment of this situation,” said the party’s secretary Arman Kyrykbaev.

But what it’s surprising that the judge of Medeu District court No.2 of Almaty, Zalina Makharadze, refused to recognize the party “Nur Otan” as the injured party.

At the same time, Ilyashev himself didn’t plead guilty and, moreover, continued to criticize the party.

“I am not Nazarbaev, and therefore I am ready to sacrifice the potential wealth and well-being of my family for the common well-being of the Kazakh people and the emerging Kazakh nation. I am ready to sit only in order to demonstrate how many people are being detained in the camps and prisons of Kazakhstan, against whom criminal cases have been roughly and unceremoniously fabricated. I am ready to sit only to demonstrate how deliberately false testimonies and expertise were made. Also, deliberately false and unjust verdicts of the courts were passed. That all is reality of Kazakhstan, which needs to be stopped and which should be fought,” he emphasized in his last speech.

And on the tenth day of the trial, the judge Makharadze sentenced Ilyashev to 3 years of restraint of freedom.

“The court imposed the sentence of restraint of freedom taking into account the extenuations, since you are not previously convicted and have dependent children. The court considered this circumstance mitigating, and sentenced you to restraint of freedom. However, the court clarifies that the charge has been brought against you correctly. You saw the reaction to your posts. The people violently discussed your posts with a negative assessment, in connection with which the court considered that there was a corpus delicti in your actions,” the judge explained.

In addition, the court assigned to Ilyashev 100 hours of forced labor annually over the term of the sentence and forbade him to engage in public activities for 5 years. By the way, Ilyashev had previously stated that this whole “theater of absurdity” around him was started only for one purpose – to prohibit him from engaging in public activities.

The court also released Ilyashev from prison, replacing him with a preventive measure on his own recognizance not to leave.

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