ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A daughter of the late Kazakh dissident poet Aron Atabek, who died in November weeks after his release from a lengthy prison term, has launched an online petition demanding her father's posthumous exoneration.
Alma Nutysheva's petition, which as of late afternoon on May 10 had been signed by almost 1,000 people, says Aron Atabek's case was politically motivated and that he was tortured while in custody, and questions the official autopsy report performed on the poet's body after his death on November 24, 2021.
"The official statement says my father died of lung failure. However, the autopsy says an extraneous object was found in his lower leg, which despite my official request, the police department and prosecutors of the Auezov district decided to destroy, violating my rights to conduct an independent forensic test of the extraneous object," Nutysheva's petition says.
Atabek was released in early October after serving most of an 18-year prison sentence stemming from a 2007 conviction for helping organize protests that resulted in the death of a police officer.
Atabek had maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2006.
He rejected a government pardon offer in 2012 that would have required him to admit guilt.
The 68-year-old poet's release in October last year from a prison in Kazakhstan’s northern region of Pavlodar came amid persistent concerns over his health. Relatives and friends say he suffered from heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.
For years, Kazakh and international rights organizations asserted his innocence and demanded the government release the poet. They said Atabek was tortured in prison, with guards splashing water with high concentrations of chlorine on the floor of his cell to damage his health.
In September, a photograph taken by activists who visited him in prison appeared to show Atabek exhausted and in poor health. The photograph caused a public outcry and added pressure on officials to release him.
In December 2012, Atabek was transferred to solitary confinement after he wrote an article critical of then-President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his government was published online.
In 2014, Atabek's relatives accused prison guards of breaking his leg, a charge that authorities have denied.