ALMATY, Kazakstan -- Political activist Darkhan Ualiev offers a wry smile as he begins a tour of his temporary "workplace" -- a disused apartment in an old building on the outskirts of Almaty that he is fixing up.
Since he was released from jail in late 2022, he has accepted whatever work he can to feed his family. But there are plenty of constraints.
"Cash, only cash!" he sighs, as he explains how he depends on his friends with bank cards to pay for essential services and why he cannot work as a taxi driver -- his previous occupation.
"I am a citizen of this country, but I cannot open a bank account. I cannot go to a currency exchange and buy dollars," Ualiev told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service in an interview last month.
"My personal identification number (PIN) is blocked. I cannot get car insurance, and I certainly cannot register any property under my name."
The reason for these onerous restrictions?
Ualiev is viewed by Kazakhstan's government as an "extremist" and, as such, features on a "financing terrorism" list that contains more than 1,400 names that can be found on the website of the country's Financial Monitoring Agency.
The rights watchdog Human Rights Watch released a report last month based on interviews related to more than a dozen cases similar to Ualiev's.
Among the report's recommendations were calls for an overhaul of the "overbroad" definition of extremism in Kazakh law as well as a review of how individuals are designated for inclusion on the financing terrorism list.
"It is bad enough that people in Kazakhstan can be wrongfully prosecuted on charges related to 'extremism' or 'terrorism' simply for exercising their right to free speech, religion, or peaceful assembly, [but] they are forced to endure unjustified financial restrictions as well," wrote Mihra Rittmann, the report's author, on August 27.
From Activist To 'Extremist'
It would be an understatement to say that Ualiev had suffered enough even before he found his way onto the "financing terrorism" list.
As historic unrest befell Kazakhstan in January 2022, he was serving a probation-like sentence for what an Almaty court determined was his membership in an organization banned as extremist by state authorities.
That organization was the Koshe (Street) party, which officials ruled was merely a new version of another anti-regime movement prohibited in 2018 after it began regularly calling for nationwide anti-government demonstrations.
Activists have repeatedly demanded to see the original Astana court judgment that condemned the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK) -- a group closely associated with foreign-based opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov -- but officials have never heeded the request.
Resolutions passed by the European Parliament demanding improvements in Kazakhstan's human rights and governance environment, in turn, refer to both DVK and the Koshe party as "peaceful" opposition movements.
When he realized that the 2022 unrest that began in western Kazakhstan over a fuel price increase had reached Almaty, Ualiev said he decided to violate a provision of his sentence that barred him from political activity and join the January protests.
By January 5, 2022, the demonstrations were giving way to violent clashes and looting, but there is no evidence that Ualiev engaged in any violence.
His older brother, though, was a victim of it.
Aslan Ualiev was shot dead during the events that killed at least 238 people.
After being unable to reach his brother for several days following the peak of the crisis, Ualiev and other relatives began to scour the city's morgues.
And it was while searching for Aslan that he was arrested by police, who he claims tortured him before he began a nearly yearlong stint behind bars.
He received confirmation of his brother's death only after his arrest, while his lawyer, Zhanara Balgabaeva, said the evidence of mistreatment of her client was "clear" when she was finally able to meet with him.
More than 30 police officers and secret services staff have been handed custodial and other sentences for mistreating detainees during the events many Kazakhs refer to as Bloody January, authorities say. Other cases are still in motion.
But rights groups argue that these figures do not capture the truly systemic nature of the abuses committed by the state during the month that rocked Kazakhstan.
'Abusing' Laws On Combating Terrorism, Money Laundering
The space for political activism in Kazakhstan hasn't increased since the crisis, as many hoped.
If anything, there is even less evidence that a law on public assemblies passed earlier in President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev's tenure has had any real bearing on political freedom in the country.
In a September 3 national address, Toqaev condemned "irresponsible, exalted populists who do not have deep knowledge of the issues discussed in society," adding that such figures have "nothing to do with democracy."
But the restrictions faced by the activists profiled in HRW's report would appear to have even less to do with it, especially given the nonviolent nature of their "crimes."
According to the group, the nearly 20 cases examined for the report all stemmed from prosecution on three charges: "organizing or participating in the activities of a public or religious association" banned as extremist by a court; "inciting social, ethnic, tribal, racial, class or religious discord"; and "terrorism propaganda or public calls to commit an act of terrorism."
Data provided by the Foreign Ministry to Human Rights Watch in the first half of the year suggested that nearly half of all the citizens on the "financing terrorism" list had been prosecuted on one of these charges.
RFE/RL's Kazakh Service, which regularly monitors the plight of opposition activists, has in the past covered the attempts of citizens convicted of "extremist" crimes to appeal against the economic straitjacket that comes with being on the notorious list.
But HRW notes that the restrictions are automatic for anyone whose conviction falls under this umbrella, thanks to Article 12 of a 2009 money-laundering law.
Individuals on the "financing terrorism" list can remain on it for as long as they have a criminal record, although they have the right to petition authorities for removal if they have served their sentence, the group said.
Interviewed by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service on the ramifications of HRW's report, veteran rights defender Yevgeny Zhovtis said he did not expect "any particular reaction" to the report from officials, who he said have "become accustomed to" ignoring rights organizations.
"But there is also the UN Security Council Counterterrorism Committee. There is a [UN] special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; there is a group of measures to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism, called FATF," he said.
"Kazakhstan has been strongly criticized by all these organizations for the fact that [the government], to put it mildly, abuses these laws on combating terrorism and money laundering.... The reaction [of these organizations] can have some weight for the authorities of Kazakhstan."
