Kazakhstan: civil society is outraged by reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to European Parliament’s resolution

Non-governmental organizations of Kazakhstan, human rights defenders and activists are outraged by the reaction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic to the resolution of the European Parliament concerning violations of human rights in Kazakhstan.

 

According to well-known human rights activist Elena Semenova, she doesn’t agree with the assessment of the MFA of Kazakhstan that the European Parliament’s resolution is biased and distorts the real situation with human rights in the country.

“I, Elena Semenova, a human rights activist, head of the organization “We are against torture” during my human rights activities, have been repeatedly persecuted by representatives of the authorities by the employees of the Committee of the Penitentiary System and investigative bodies. Criminal cases were opened against me twice. I have repeatedly received reports of possible provocations from the staff of these institutions. They tried to set my house on fire by throwing a Molotov cocktail. Over the past year, 11 lawsuits have been filed against me to protect business reputation by correctional institutions. Convicts, who turn to me for help on the basis of torture and cruel treatment, are brought to administrative responsibility for libel. I appeal to the members of the European Parliament and declare that there is indeed torture and cruel treatment in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is failing to fulfill its human rights obligations. I ask you to provide assistance in connection with the violation of human rights and to impose personal sanctions against all perpetrators,” Semenova said in her open appeal to the MEPs.

In turn, human rights and civic activist Bakhytzhan Toregozhina sent a letter to the head of the European Union Delegation in Kazakhstan, Ambassador Sven-Olov Carlsson, in which she asked for an audience for herself and her colleagues in order to discuss the list of Kazakh officials against whom the European Parliament should impose sanctions for violation of human rights.

“We want to be sure of your intentions and enlist your support in promoting the implementation of the resolution in Kazakhstan. Also we want to discuss the list of officials in respect of whom we would like to see sanctions,” wrote Toregozhina.

On February 12, the European Parliament adopted the resolution “On the situation with human rights in Kazakhstan” by a majority vote. 598 out of 693 MEPs voted “for”, 43 were “against”. 52 MEPs abstained.

The vote was preceded by a debate that lasted almost 50 minutes. Most of 20 MEPs, who spoke, were in favor of the document.

“Recently, there has been an alarming deterioration in the overall human rights situation in Kazakhstan and the suppression of civil society organizations,” the document says.

It also states that the European Parliament urges the government of Kazakhstan to act in accordance with its international obligations and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms; calls on the authorities of Kazakhstan to comply with international standards regarding the conduct of elections and to implement the ODIHR’s recommendations, including those concerning constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms, participation of civil society, political pluralism, etc.

MEPs, who spoke at the debates, recalled that Kazakhstan had assumed many obligations in the field of human rights, including during the conclusion of an expanded agreement on partnership and cooperation with the EU. This agreement was signed in 2015 and came into force in March 2020. However, as EP member Petras Austrevicius said, “despite the promises of the authorities of Kazakhstan” to take into account the recommendations of various international organizations and institutions, “there are violations of human rights in the country every day”.

MEPs criticized the parliamentary elections held in Kazakhstan in January, noting that “voters were left without a real choice in the absence of real political competition and political opposition groups, since no new parties have been registered in the country since 2013”. The document also notes that on the day of elections, at least 350 peaceful protesters were detained in 10 different cities.

Questions were also raised about the investigation into the death of activist Dulat Agadil in early 2020 in the pre-trial detention center and the death of his son Zhanbolat Agadilov.

MP Ewa Bożena Kopacz reported the deaths of Amanbike Khayrolla, Serik Orazov and Garifulla Embergenov, who died last year after “being subjected to enormous political pressure”.

“The authorities are hindering a fair and transparent investigation into these deaths, and none of the perpetrators has been brought to justice,” Kopacz said.

In turn, MP Ignacio Sánchez Amor expressed the opinion that “the transition to a democratic society in Kazakhstan failed not yesterday, but years ago.”

Viola von Cramon-Taubadel emphasized that all hopes for the democratization of Kazakhstan were “crushed by the dictatorship of Nursultan Nazarbayev”.

“During his reign, no fair elections were held, corruption was flourishing, freedom of speech was severely restricted, opposition representatives were jailed, workers’ protests were brutally suppressed, and journalists were intimidated and killed. Nazarbayev’s successor, the President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has pledged that he would do better with the so-called “controlled democratization”. However, the recent deterioration is calling into question the efforts of the new President,” said Cramon-Taubadel.

The final text of the resolution also noted that in 2020, the authorities opened more than 38 criminal cases against journalists for allegedly committing crimes such as disseminating false information. In addition, the document reflects recent events with violations of the rights of Lukpan Akhmedyarov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Uralsk week”. In addition, the resolution mentions the opposition movements “Koshe partyasy” and “Democratic choice of Kazakhstan”, which “are prohibited by secret court decisions that add them to extremist organizations”. The resolution refers to 17 leaders of Koshe partyasy who “face long prison terms”, as well as 26 “political prisoners who became victims of political persecution due to the fact that they supported these movements”.

“It’s just the right time to hold the authorities of Kazakhstan to account. We have a global human rights sanctions regime. Let’s use it,” Viola von Cramon-Taubadel urged her colleagues.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan noted that the resolution was initiated by “unfriendly politicians, who were provided by falsified information from destructive circles”.

“Kazakhstan is purposefully and progressively realizing its obligations in the field of human rights. The President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev launched large-scale political reforms in accordance with his proclaimed concept of a “hearing state”. Considering that the European Union member states support the reforms initiated by the head of state, this document of the European Parliament causes complete bewilderment and misunderstanding regarding the reliability of the information used in its preparation,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Aybek Smadiyarov.

In turn, the head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights Yevgeny Zhovtis recalled that over the past 20 years, the European Parliament has adopted about 13 resolutions in relation to Kazakhstan.

“This is already 14^th, if I’m not mistaken. Not all resolutions, of course, dealt directly with Kazakhstan. 3-4 of them were about the human rights situation in Central Asia in general. The resolutions were different. For example, some of them were related to events in Zhanaozen. Others were on specific cases, for example, on the closure of the movement “Democratic choice of Kazakhstan”, concerning Max Bokayev, Vladimir Kozlov, etc.” Zhovtis noted.

At the same time, he noted that all these resolutions contained some general recommendations.

“The last resolution was adopted in 2019, but then our power was changed. A new President [a former minister of foreign affairs, a former deputy secretary general of the UN] came, and promises began: we will do this, we will provide this. But what has been done? We recognized the organization “Koshe partyasy” as extremist. We had elections without opposition. We abused anti-extremist legislation. We put pressure on peaceful protesters. The number of political prisoners is growing rapidly. We adopted the law “On peaceful assemblies” that doesn’t meet international standards, etc. And all of this led to the appearance of this resolution,” Zhovtis believes.

In November last year, three international human rights organizations called on the governments of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to apply sanctions to the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as to a number of other high-ranking officials of Kazakhstan in the framework of their sanctions legislation under the Global Magnitsky Act.