Kazakhstan: human rights activist Vadim Kuramshin wants to flee the country
Kazakh human rights activist Vadim Kuramshin, at risk of being returned to prison for contacting Dariga Nazarbaeva, met with Human Rights Ombudsman in Kazakhstan Elvira Azimova. Following the meeting, Kuramshin recorded a video message, where he stated that it was necessary to flee Kazakhstan.
Recall, as ACCA previously reported, Kuramshin was found guilty of an administrative offense by the court. In particular, he was accused of being absent from home after 10 p.m., where he was supposed to stay as a person under probationary supervision.
The human rights activist is inclined to believe that they are trying to return him to prison only because he tried to meet with the speaker of the Senate of Kazakhstan Dariga Nazarbaeva.
“Today I met with the Ombudsman Elvira Abilhasimovna appointed in September last year,” Kuramshin said immediately after the meeting. “I’m shocking, to be honest! Shock! As soon as possible, I should flee the country! This is the only thing I think about.”
Further, the human rights activist notes that the Kazakh authorities deprived him of the opportunity to escape.
“The Ombudsman of Kazakhstan gave me an audience in order to clarify that she cannot influence this situation in any way,” Kuramshin says. “The same situation is with the issue of cars, which was the second agenda, which I asked to discuss in my official appeal. She has nothing to do with it. This is the paradoxical demand that Kasym-Zhomart Tokaev voiced about setting up cars for temporary registration for one million three hundred thousand tenge ($3.4 thousand). Where did such tariffs come from? Who even invented them? It is completely incomprehensible! And the subsequent complete customs clearance will be about four million tenge ($10.4 thousand). And the Ombudsman, who is a former police officer, believes that the President concessions to us in that way! This is what the Human Rights Ombudsman told me.”
Recall that citizens of Kazakhstan used to be able to operate cars with foreign license plates (countries of the Customs Union). However, in January 2020, the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that these vehicles should be cleared and registered in Kazakhstan. Otherwise, the cars will be expelled from the country.
“I don’t even know who to ask next,” Kuramshin summarizes. “I don’t ask for rehabilitation; I only ask for the opportunity to flee this state legally! After all, if I illegally try to cross the border, they’ll thrash me and add the term.”
