Kazakhstan: trying to silence human rights activist Semenova

Well-known human rights activist of Kazakhstan Elena Semyonova, who advocates for the rights of prisoners, continues to be attacked by the country’s penal colonies.

Elena Semenova regularly publishes posts on social networks about the lawlessness happening in this or that colony. Moreover, in her publications, she constantly refers to the sources of this information – they are either the prisoners themselves or their relatives. Naturally, the heads of Kazakhstan’s prisons don’t like the disclosure of such information and the subsequent checks. In this regard, they make regular attempts to silence the human rights defender.

According to the head of the branch of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights (KIBHR) in Pavlodar, Meruert Shakirova, on May 12 in Pavlodar, a decision was made on another lawsuit against the human rights activist.

According to Shakirova, a lawsuit to protect the business reputation of a legal entity was filed by the administration of the colony AK-159/6 (a strict regime colony in the village of Dolinka, Karaganda region). The employees of the institution were allegedly outraged by the publication of Semenova on Facebook on January 18, 2021, in which Semenova reported about the beating of prisoner Ivan Varle within the walls of the colony:

“… Convict Ivan Varle is in the quarantine unit. He was severely beaten. He needs urgent medical aid. His arm is injured. He cannot bend his arm. There is a swelling. He doesn’t receive any medical assistance. The convict received an injury about 10 days ago. Convict Kapylbaev also needs medical assistance. He has metal objects in his stomach, and he has stomach pains. However, he is not provided with medical assistance either. The surgeon examined the convict and said that he needed an operation. But, according to the convict, the doctor Alina told him, “You will die here.” This medic Alina beat the convict in the face, kicked him, threw objects at him, and told him that he would be sent to the harem … This is only because he turned to her for help,” the publication said.

The administration of AK-159/6 in its statement of claim indicated that there were no such facts in the institution. At one of the court sessions, Semyonova petitioned for the interrogation of the convicted Kapylbaev as a witness.

The interrogation of the convicts was carried out through audio communication via WhatsApp. Respectively, the interrogated persons were not visible, and there were no guarantees that the interrogation was attended by exactly those who should have been.

“Ivan Varle (or the person acting on his behalf) said that he wouldn’t remember anything like that, he hadn’t received any bodily harm at that time. However, Manas Kapylbaev confirmed everything that was in the publication. These short explanations were enough for the judge Zhanar Uyzbaeva to decide to partially satisfy the claim, to recognize the information presented by Semyonova as untrue and discrediting the business reputation (with a refutation of information regarding the situation with Ivan Varle), but with regard to Manas Kapylbaev, leave it as it is,” Shakirova said.

The human rights activist also noted that the employees of the administration of the colonies, about the lawlessness in which Elena Semenova reports, don’t always file claims themselves, but sometimes act with the hands of prisoners. One of these processes was the court on the claim for the protection of honor, dignity and compensation for moral damage, filed by the only female prisoner serving her sentence in a men’s prison. It’s Veronica Savelyeva.

In July last year, Elena Semenova reported on social networks that the convicted Alexander Chekashin was forced to commit an act of self-harm in order to attract attention and save the woman who was being held in the institution УK-161\12 from daily rape by the employees of the institution. According to Chekashin, he found no other way out to help the convicted woman Veronica.

However, in November 2020, Veronica Savelyeva went to court with a lawsuit not only against Elena Semyonova, but also against her protector Chekashin. In her lawsuit, the convict stated that nothing wrong had been done to her in the colony and demanded to refute the published information, as well as to recover from the defendants $ 1200 for moral damages.

The staff of the institution УK-161\12, naturally, confirmed the reliability of Savelyeva’s statements. On April 22, the court satisfied her claims, but reduced the amount of compensation for moral damages to $ 240.

It’s worth recalling that Elena Semenova just recently reported more facts of bullying and rape of prisoners in the colony AK-159/6. Based on this, it’s logical to assume that soon another lawsuit against human rights activist Elena Semyonova will come from the administration of this institution, or the prisoners, who are serving sentences in it.

In 2020, four lawsuits and two pre-trial claims from correctional institutions were brought against Semyonova.