On November 14, supporters of the unregistered Atazhurt party (opposing Beijing’s policies towards the Turkic-speaking peoples of Chinese Xinjiang) took to the road in the Almaty region to protest with a demand to return 48-year-old ethnic Kazakh Alimnur Turganbai, who was detained in China in July, to Kazakhstan.
The media notes that Turganbai went to China for work – to receive goods and bring them to Kazakhstan by truck. Nothing is known about the essence of the charges brought against Turganbai to his family who remained in Kazakhstan. According to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry, Turganbai has Chinese citizenship; his family claims that he renounced his Chinese citizenship when he received a Kazakh passport in 2017.
After the protest, 18 of its participants were charged with “inciting hatred.”
The materials received by the Uyghur District Court of the Almaty Region state that the suspects “burned a photograph of the leader of the PRC and a flag, protested in connection with the detention of a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan A. Turganbai by the PRC authorities.”
On November 21, 13 protesters were placed under arrest for 10 days, and five more were placed under house arrest. Before this, protesters were fined and arrested on suspicion of “petty hooliganism.”
Commenting on what was happening, lawyer Shynkuat Baizhanov said that the court chose the preventive measure at night, and in Art. 174 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan in question does not stipulate that burning a flag is a crime.
“None of those in custody was interrogated, no examination was carried out. According to Article 174, there must be an evidence base, an expert opinion. An investigator or prosecutor cannot be an expert. That is, despite the absence of an expert opinion, they were imprisoned. This is flagrant lawlessness. Politics is involved here,” he said.
Azattyk Asia draws attention to the fact that Astana, against the backdrop of statements by international organizations and Western countries about genocide in Chinese Xinjiang, avoided criticism of Beijing, one of the key investors and creditors. In addition, Kazakhstan, like other Central Asian states, is working closely with Beijing in implementing the One Belt, One Road program.
