On 13 May 2021, civil activist Aibek Sabitov was sentenced to 1 year of restriction of liberty and a 3-year ban on social and political activities under Article 405 Part 2 ("participation in an extremist organisation"), including a ban on participating in peaceful protests, 100 hours of community service and a forced payment of 27,780 tenge ($65) to the "Crime Victims' Compensation Fund".
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Judge: Bapakova Nazgul Talgatbekovna.
Prosecutor: Igenov Madiyar.
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Aibek Sabitov was prosecuted for:
- Calling for participation and participation in peaceful protests and subbotage (evening walk);
- Reposting on Facebook a post with a photo of opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov and words of gratitude;
- Publication on Facebook that “Koshe Partiyasy” and “DCK” are true patriots of the country.
Aibek Sabitov is being prosecuted for calling for and participating in peaceful protests. In its
resolution of 11 February 2021, the European Parliament has condemned the abuse of anti-extremism legislation by the Kazakhstani authorities to persecute supporters of the peaceful opposition movements “DCK” and “Koshe Partiyasy” and called on the Kazakhstani authorities "to drop politically motivated charges and end all forms of arbitrary detention, reprisals and harassment against human rights activists, religious organisations, civil society organisations, trade unions, journalists and political opposition movements".
We call on the US, the EU, the UK and Canada to impose personal sanctions on: the head of the National Security Committee, Karim Massimov; the General Prosecutor, Gizat Nurdauletov; and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Yerlan Turgumbayev.
DCK (Democratic Choice of Kazakhtstan opposition movement)*
Koshe Partiyasy opposition movement**
