On 19 May 2021, at 15:00 the court on politically motivated criminal case under Article 405 Part 2 ("participation in the extremist organization") will be held. On 21 April 2021, Zhumakhmetov R.K., a police major, a chief investigator of the Investigative Division of Astana Police Department, compiled an indictment in relation to Zhanibek Zhunusov. These are the “grounds” of the indictment.
1) On 3 September 2020, Zhanibek Zhunusov made a repost of the post written by opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov on Facebook: “DCK announces a protest to be held on 25 September”.
2) On 15 October 2020, Zhanibek Zhunusov made a repost of the post written by opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov on Facebook: “Regarding sanctions against Navalny and future sanctions against Nazarbayev. This is just the beginning. Recently the European Union imposed sanctions in relation to Lukashenko's circle”.
3) On 11 December 2020, Zhanibek Zhunusov made a repost of the post written by opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov on Facebook: “Why should we vote for Akzhol? I have conducted a series of live broadcasts explaining why we need to vote for Akzhol and go out to a mass protest on 10 January”.
4) On 25 December 2020, Zhanibek Zhunusov made a repost of the post written by opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov on Facebook: “We will shift the regime of Nazarbayev on 10 January. It depends on each of us whether we will be able to pull down Nazarbayev and his criminal gang. Following the instructions precisely we will achieve the result.” He also published a picture with the text “Get lost, Shal (Old man)! Shymkent.”
On 29 April 2021 Kilymzhanov E.T. , deputy prosecutor of Astana city, approved the indictment.
Zhanibek Zhunusov is being persecuted because of political motives just for reposting Mukhtar Ablyazov's publications (about the peaceful protests, elections, voting for the registered “Akzhol” party), also for participation in peaceful protests. On 28 February 2021 Zhanibek Zhunusov attended the peaceful protest with the demand to release the political prisoners and implement the recommendations advised by the European Parliament in relation to human rights in Kazakhstan from 11 February, 2021.
While attending the peaceful protest Zhanibek Zhunusov was illegally detained by the OMON officers and later arrested for 10 days for “violating the law on peaceful assembly”. Straight after the arrest he was sent to the pre-trial detention facility for the duration of investigation of the politically motivated case. At the protest on 28 February 2021 Zhanibek Zhunusov asked the authorities to impose personal sanctions against people involved in human rights violations in Kazakhstan.
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)*
