Kazakhstan: activist was placed in a psychiatric hospital after the rally
The fate of three activists of the unregistered opposition Democratic party, who disappeared after the rally in Almaty, has become known.
On July 6, on the birthday of the first President of Kazakhstan, the leader of the nation, Nursultan Nazarbayev, an unauthorized rally of the unregistered opposition Democratic party took place in Almaty. The protesters were outraged that monuments were erected to Nazarbayev, who plunged the country into corruption. They demanded that he move away from power, as well as the current President, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev.
The police used kettling on the protesters (encircling a group of protesters with police cordons and keeping them inside barriers for an extended period of time), and then began to beat them.
After the rally, the leader of the unregistered Democratic party Zhanbolat Mamay said that some of the activists, who were detained at the rally, had disappeared. It was about Yrysbek Toktasyn and Dauren Dostiyarov. Later, it turned out that another activist, Valikhan Sultanov, also disappeared.
The fate of the first two activists became clear only three days after the rally. It turned out that Yrysbek Toktasyn and Dauren Dostiyarov received 10 days of administrative arrest. Now they are serving their sentences in a special detention center in Almaty.
About where Valikhan Sultanov disappeared, it was possible to establish only 8 days after his disappearance. According to the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, the police took the activist not to the police station, but to the Mental Health Center. At the same time, the police noted that Sultanov voluntarily agreed to go to a psychiatric institution and undergo an examination. At the same time, the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights noted that the employees of the Mental Health Center refused to admit a lawyer hired by the human rights organization to Sultanov, which gives rise to doubts about the voluntary consent of the activist to be examined.
Sultanov himself, who is now at large, told how the “voluntary consent” was obtained. He was given a choice – either 10 days of examination in a psychiatric institution, or three months of compulsory treatment at the same institution, but already by a court decision.
However, the examination didn’t reveal any mental abnormalities, and Sultanov was released.
